I 


1 


AN    OUTLINE 


PUBLIC    LIFE   AND    SERVICES 


OP 


THOMAS  F.  BAYARD, 

SENATOR  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  FROM  THE  STATE  OF  DELAWARE, 
1869-188O. 


U777/   EXTRACTS   MOM  HIS  SPEECH  KS  AND    THE  DEB  A 

OF  COXU 


BY 

EDWARD    SPENCKR. 


NEW     YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

1,    8,    AND    5    BOND    STREET. 
1880. 


COPYRIGHT   BY 

D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 

18SO. 


THIS   OUTLINE 
OF   THE    PUBLIC    LIFE    AND   SEE  VI  < 

OF 

THOMAS    F .     BAYARD 

IS   DEDICATED   TO 
TUB     YOUNG     MEN     OF      THE     UNITED     STATES 

THE  LIVES  OF  THE  FATHERS 

AEE   OFTEN   HELD   UP  TO   THEM    AS   EXAMPLES: 
THE  LIFE  OF  ONE  OF  THEIR  CONTEMPORARIES 

snows 
HOW    THOSE   EXAMPLES   SHOULD   BE    FOLLOWED. 


M185462 


Self -reverence,  self-knowledge,  self-control, 
These  three  alone  lead  life  to  sovereign  power, 
Yet  not  for  power  (power  of  herself 
Would  come  uncalled  for),  but  to  live  by  la  \v, 
Acting  the  law  we  live  by  without  fear ; 
And  because  right  is  right,  to  follow  right 
Were  wisdom  in  the  scorn  of  consequence. 

TENNYSON  :  "  (Knonc." 

[Quoted  by  Mr.  Bayard  in  his  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Oration,  Harvard  Uni 
versity,  June  28,  1877.] 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 
ANCESTRY  OF  MR.  BAYARD  ..... 


CHAPTER  II. 
EARLY  LIFE  OF  MR.  BAYARD 

CHAPTER  III. 
STATE  OF  POLITICS— 18G9 -'70  26 

CHAPTER  IV. 
OUTLINE  OF  MR.  BAYARD'S  POLITICAL  SERVICES       .  47 

CHAPTER   V. 
LEADING  QUESTIONS.— MR.  BAYARD'S  VIEWS  57 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  UNION  AND  THE  CONSTITUTION  .  80 

CHAPTER  VII. 
FINANCE  AND  THE  CURRENCY  .  •         101 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

TARIFF  AND  REVENUE  RHOIIM        .  .  .  .  .133 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

PAGE 

"Tins  is  A  GOVERNMENT  OF  LAWS"  .  .  159 

CHAPTER   X. 
DEFENSE  OF  THE  SOUTH 


CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  CENTRALIZATION         .  .  .  .212 

CHAPTER  XII. 
ECONOMY  AND  REFORM  IN  GOVERNMENT        .  .  .  .231 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  ELECTORAL  COMMISSION  .  .  .  .  .251 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
MR.  BAYARD  IN  THE  SENATE 


LIFE 

OF 

THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ANCESTRY    OF    MR.    BAYARD. 

THE  family  to  which  Mr.  Bayard  belongs  is  a  numer 
ous  one,  and  its  members  are  widely  distributed  in  both 
the  Old  World  and  the  New.  Those  who  take  an  inter 
est  in  antiquarian  investigations  have  traced  back  its  ori 
gin  to  the  province  of  Dauphine,  now  the  department 
of  the  Isere,  in  the  southeast  of  France,  where,  about  six 
leagues  from  Grenoble,  the  ruins  of  the  Chateau  Bayard, 
crowning  a  hill  which  commands  one  of  the  noblest  pros 
pects  in  that  romantic  region,  mark  what  is  regarded  as 
the  cradle  of  the  race.  From  the  earliest  times  the  Bay 
ards  were  distinguished  for  courage  in  war  and  fidelity 
to  their  sovereign.  A  Seigneur  de  Bayard,  the  head  of 
the  house,  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Poitiers  in  the  vain 
attempt  to  prevent  the  capture  of  King  John  the  Good 
by  the  English.  His  son  fell  in  combat  with  the  same 
enemy  at  Azincourt,  and  his  grandson  at  Montlhery. 
But  the  second  in  descent  from  this  last  was  more  widely 
known  than  either,  and,  joining  to  the  hereditary  prowess 
and  constancy  of  his  race  a  purity  and  nobility  of  char- 


2  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

acter  peculiarly  liis  own,  lias  furnished  to  history  and 
romance  the  ideal  of  a  perfect  knight.  Pierre  du  Ter- 
rail,  Seigneur  de  Bayard,*  "  the  knight  without  fear  and 
without  reproach,"  was  the  famous  captain  of  Charles 
VIII,  Louis  XII,  and  Francis  I,  the  latter  of  whom, 
after  the  battle  of  Marignano,  would  receive  the  honor  of 
knighthood  from  no  hand  but  that  of  Bayard.  In  1505 
he,  single-handed,  kept  the  bridge  of  the  Garigliano 
against  the  Spaniards,  and  saved  the  whole  French  army. 
In  the  wars  between  Francis  and  the  Emperor  Charles 
V,  he  was  the  most  trusted  French  leader,  and  fell  by  an 
arquebuse-shot  while  conducting  the  retreat  at  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Sesia,  April  30, 1524.  As  he  left  no  heirs,  his 
estates  and  rank  descended  to  the  next  of  kin,  and  the 
family  name,  Du  Terrail,  was  merged  in  the  territorial 
name  Bayard. 

Among  the  descendants  of  these  Bayards  were  three 
brothers,  Jacques,  Thomas,  and  Philippe,  who  had  em 
braced  the  Reformed  or  Huguenot  faith.  During  the 
persecutions  which  followed  the  Massacre  of  St.  Barthol 
omew,  they,  with  thousands  of  their  fellow-believers,  fled 
from  France,  and  took  refuge  in  Holland,  where  their  de 
scendants  still  exist.  One  of  these,  Samuel  Bayard,  early 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  married  Anneke,  or  Anna, 

*  Bayard  was  not  married.  Says  Jean  Cohen,  his  secretary :  "  Mais  il 
cu  avoir  contract6  verbalement  et  par  lettres  1'engagement  avec  une  belle 
et  noble  demoiselle  de  la  maison  de  Trfcque  dans  le  Milanez,  de  laquelle  il 
avoit  eu  une  fille  naturelle,  nomm6e  Jeanne  Terrail,  dignc  fille  du  plus  ver- 
tueux  de  tous  les  peres.  Elle  fut  mariee,  un  an  apres  la  mort  dc  son 
pere,  a  Frangois  de  Bocsozcl,  seigneur  de  Cliastelart." 

But  the  records  attesting  this  marriage  exist  in  the  church  attached  to 
the  Chateau  Bayard,  in  Dauphiny,  and  were  lately  exhibited  by  the  cur6  of 
the  parish,  then  custodian,  to  Miss  Anderson,  the  daughter  of  the  gallant 
General  Kobert  Anderson,  of  Fort  Sumter  fame,  and  who  is  herself  re 
lated  to  the  Bayards. 


AN'CESTRY   OF   MR.   BAYARD.  3 

daughter  of  Balthazar  Stuyvesant,  and  sister  of  Peter 
Stuyvesant,  governor  of  New  Amsterdam.  Anna  Bay 
ard,  being  a  widow  at  the  time  of  her  brother's  appoint 
ment,  with  her  three  sons,  Balthazar,  Nicholas,  and  Pe- 
trus,  and  a  daughter,  Catherine,  embarked  with  him  for 
the  New  World,  landing  at  New  Amsterdam,  May  11, 
1647.  From  these  three  brothers  all  the  Bayards  in  the 
United  States  are  descended. 

Balthazar  and  Nicholas  married  in  New  Amsterdam, 
and  their  descendants  are  still  living  in  New  York.* 
Petrus,  the  youngest  son,  also  married,  established  him 
self  in  business  as  a  hatter,  and  was  on  the  road  to  sub 
stantial  prosperity,  when  an  event  occurred  which  changed 
the  whole  course  of  his  life.  This  event  was  his  meeting 
with  Bankers  and  Sluyter,  the  Labadist  emissaries  or 
commissioners. 

As  the  story  of  the  Labadist  colony  in  America  is 
comparatively  little  known,  a  few  words  about  it  may 
not  be  out  of  place.  Jean  de  Labadie,  a  man  of  singular 
gifts  and  eloquence,  a  sort  of  Protestant  Savonarola,  with 
all  the  enthusiasm  and  mysticism  and  the  power  of  sway 
ing  the  people  which  distinguished  the  famous  Florentine, 
had  been  a  shining  light  of  the  Jesuit  order,  but  quitted 
in  discontent  both  it  and  the  Church  of  Rome,  and,  after 
trying  various  forms  of  faith  and  finding  none  to  his 
mind,  resolved  as  a  last  resort  to  found  a  church  of  his 
own.  He  soon  gathered  about  him  a  band  of  devoted 
followers.  Their  doctrines  differed  not  greatly  from 
those  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  but  they  laid  claim 

*  Balthazar  married  Maritjie  Loockermans,  and  left  children  who  inter 
married  with  the  Jays  and  Stuyvesants.  Nicholas  was  appointed  Receiver- 
General  of  the  New  Netherlands  in  1673.  He  was  a  strong  opposer  of  the 
seizure  of  power  by  Leislcr  iu  1G89,  and  was  imprisoned  by  order  of  the 
latter  for  more  than  a  year. 


4  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

to  a  much  higher  spirituality,  and  in  some  respects  seem 
to  have  resembled  the  Moravians,  in  others  the  Shakers. 
Certain  features  of  their  discipline  were  so  objectionable 
to  the  Dutch  authorities  that  they  were  expelled  from 
one  town  after  another,  until  at  last  they  found  a  quiet 
resting-place  at  AViewerd,  in  Friesland.  But  here,  too, 
they  became  straitened  both  for  means  and  room,  and  so 
determined  to  plant  a  colony  in  America. 

Two  of  their  leading  members,  Jasper  Bankers  and 
Peter  Sluyter,  were  sent  across  the  Atlantic  on  a  tour  of 
exploration,  who,  after  various  wanderings  and  adven 
tures,  pitched  upon  a  tract  of  land  in  Cecil  County, 
Maryland,  between  the  Elk  and  Bohemia  rivers,  forming 
part  of  the  great  Bohemia  Manor  grant  of  Augustine 
Herrmann,  the  magnate  of  that  region,  and  a  conspicu 
ous  personage  in  the  early  history  of  Maryland.  To  this 
choice  they  were  led  partly  by  the  fertility  of  the  soil 
and  mildness  of  the  climate,  but  chiefly  by  the  persua 
sions  of  Ephraim  Herrmann,  son  and  heir  of  Augustine, 
of  whom  they  had  made  a  convert  during  their  stay  in 
New  York,  and  who  made  them  lavish  promises  of  land  if 
they  would  plant  their  proposed  colony  within  his  fa 
ther's  territory. 

The  prospect  seeming  an  inviting  one  to  the  mother- 
church  in  Friesland,  Bankers  and  Sluyter  were  sent  out 
again  to  found  the  settlement  as  proposed.  Ephraim 
was  as  good  as  his  word ;  and  through  his  influence  a 
tract  of  land  between  the  Elk  and  Bohemia  rivers,  and 
containing  about  3,750  acres,  was  conveyed  in  August, 
1684:,  to  Bankers,  Sluyter,  and  three  others,  one  of  whom 
was  Petrus  Bayard. 

Petrus,  like  Ephraim,  had  been  made  a  convert  by  the 
missionaries  during  their  stay  in  New  York,  and  he  now 


ANCESTRY   OF  MR.   BAYARD.  5 

resolved  to  renounce  his  prospects  there,  and  cast  his  lot 
with  the  Labadists.  He  was  naturalized  by  the  Maryland 
Assembly  on  September  26,  1684,  and  appears  to  have 
passed  nearly  all  the  rest  of  his  life  in  the  community. 
The  Labadists  left  no  annals  or  records  by  which  their 
history  can  be  traced  after  this  settlement ;  but  Petrus  is 
favorably  mentioned  by  name  in  the  sketch  of  the  colony 
published  in  1692  by  Dittelbach,  a  deserter  from  the  sect, 
who  speaks  in  strong  terms  of  the  arbitrary  and  oppres 
sive  rule  of  Sluyter  and  his  wife.  In  1688  the  parent- 
church  at  "VViewerd  was  dissolved,  and  the  property  di 
vided  among  the  members  ;  and  ten  years  later  the  same 
course  was  taken  by  the  community  at  Bohemia  Manor. 
In  July,  1698,  a  partition  of  the  land  took  place,  Samuel 
Bayard,  the -eldest  son  of  Petrus,  receiving  a  considerable 
tract  as  his  share.  Petrus  himself  had  probably  by  this 
time-withdrawn  from  the  community,  as  he  died  in  New 
York  in  1699.  Sluyter  reserved  the  lion's  share  of  the 
land  for  himself,  and  kept  up  some  semblance  of  a  church 
for  several  years,  but  at  his  death  the  sect  became  extinct 
in  Maryland,  and  the  remains  of  the  mother-church  in 
Friesland  ceased  to  exist  at  about  the  same  time. 

Of  Samuel,  the  son  of  Petrus  (or  Peter,  as  he  was 
called  after  his  naturalization  in  Maryland),  we  have  but 
little  record.  He  seems  to  have  lived  on  his  Bohemia 
Manor  farm  in  the  ease  and  abundance  which  character 
ized  the  open-handed  life  of  the  Maryland  country  gentle 
man  of  those  times.  Luxuries  were  rarer  then  in  the 
colony  than  they  were  fifty  years  later,  and  rarer  still  in 
those  far  up-country  plantations ;  but  the  soil,  the  forest, 
and  the  water  furnished  plenty  for  all  and  for  all  comers ; 
and  Samuel,  among  his  neighbors,  passed  for  a  rich  man. 
He  built  himself  a  large  brick  house,  in  which  he  and  his 


G  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

descendants  lived  till  1789.  He  died  in  1721,  leaving 
three  sons,  Samuel,  Peter,  and  James,  and  one  daughter, 
Mary  Anne. 

James,  the  third  son,  married  Mary  Asheton,  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  of  this  marriage  were  born  two  sons,  John  and 
James  Asheton.  John  Bayard  lived  in  Philadelphia,  and 
took  an  active  part  on  the  patriotic  side  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  Kevolution.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  -Inspection  for  the  county  of  Philadelphia,  and  Bancroft 
pronounces  him  "  a  patriot  of  singular  purity  of  character 
and  disinterestedness ;  personally  brave,  pensive,  earnest, 
and  devout."  * 

His  brother,  James  Asheton  Bayard,  died  in  1769, 
leaving  two  sons,  John,  and  James  Asheton  the  second, 
the  latter  an  infant  but  two  years  old.  John  Bayard  held 
the  rank  of  colonel  in  the  American  army  during  the  war 
of  the  He  volution,  in  which  he  distinguished  him  serf  by 
his  courage  and  conduct.  He  commanded  the  artillery  at 
the  battle  of  Brandywine. 

James  Asheton  Bayard,  the  second,  was  bora  in  Phila 
delphia,  but,  after  his  graduation  at  Princeton  College, 
removed  to  Delaware,  where  he  married  Anne,  daughter 
of  Governor  Richard  Bassett.f  His  talents  and  character 
soon  won  for  him  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens,  who 
shortly  after  he  had  attained  his  majority  elected  him  one 
of  their  representatives  in  Congress.  Here  he  soon  showed 
his  ability  as  chairman  of  the  committee  that  conducted 


*  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  viii,  385. 

f  Judith  Bassett,  the  mother  of  Governor  Bassett,  was  a  niece  of  Augus 
tine  Herrmann,  and  in  this  way  the  original  Bohemia  Manor  house  came  into 
the  Bayard  family.  Bassett  had  served  with  distinction  in  the  Revolutionary 
war,  and  commanded  a  troop  of  light  horse,  which  was  attached  to  Washing 
ton's  headquarters  at  the  time  of  Arnold's  treason. 


ANCESTRY   OF  MR.   BAYARD.  7 

the  impeachment  of  Senator  Blount,  and  particularly  dis 
tinguished  himself  by  his  statesmanlike  treatment  of  the 
difficult  constitutional  questions  that  arose  during  the  pro 
gress  of  that  important  case.  President  Adams,  who  had 
from  the  first  noted  Mr.  Bayard's  ability,  nominated  him 
as  Minister  to  France.  The  nomination  was  confirmed 
by  the  Senate,  and  he  was  commissioned,  but  declined  the 
appointment.  His  reasons  for  this  are  stated  in  a  charac 
teristic  letter : 

"  WASHINGTON,  February  22,  1801. 

"...  You  are  right  in  your  conjecture  as  to  the  office  offered 
me.  I  have  since  been  nominated  Minister  to  France,  concurred  in 
nem  con.,  commissioned,  and  resigned.  Under  proper  circumstances, 
the  acceptance  would  have  been  complete  gratification ;  but,  under 
the  existing,  I  thought  the  resignation  most  honorable.  To  have 
taken  $18,000  out  of  the  public  treasury,  with  a  knowledge  that  no 
serviqe  could  be  rendered  by  me,  as  the  French  Government  would 
have  waited  for  a  man  who  represented  the  existing  feelings  and 
views  of  this  Government,  would  have  been  disgraceful. 

"  Another  consideration  of  great  weight  arose  from  the  part  I 
took  in  the  Presidential  election.  As  I  had  given  the  turn  to  the 
election,  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  accept  an  office  which  would 
be  held  on  the  tenure  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  pleasure.  My  ambition 
shall  never  be  gratified  at  the  expense  of  a  suspicion. 

"  I  shall  never  lose  sight  of  the  motto  of  the  great  original  of  our 


In  the  House  he  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Federal 
party  ;  but,  far  from  being  a  violent  partisan,  he  was  con 
spicuous  for  wise  moderation,  forbearance,  and  constant 
recognition  of  the  great  truth,  so  often  forgotten,  that 
parties  are  not  ends  in  themselves,  but  only  means  to  an 
end ;  and  he  never  hesitated  between  the  success  of  his 
party  and  the  welfare  of  his  country.  This  he  signally 
displayed  in  the  memorable  contest  between  Jefferson 


8  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

and  Burr,  where,  perceiving  that  the  peace  of  the  country 
was  in  danger,  he  prevailed  upon  his  political  allies  to 
sacrifice  their  party  preferences  for  the  general  good. 

After  serving  in  the  House  for  two  terms  with  an 
ability,  integrity,  and  patriotism  that  won  the  admiration 
of  his  political  opponents,  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate. 
In  1812  he  was  selected  by  President  Madison  as  one  of 
the  commissioners  to  treat  for  peace  with  Great  Britain, 
and  it  was  largely  due  to  his  firmness  and  tact  that  the 
treaty  of  Ghent  was  signed.  While  still  in  Europe  he 
was  chosen  by  the  President  as  envoy  to  St.  Petersburg, 
but,  being  seized  with  a  mortal  illness,  returned  to  Amer 
ica  only  to  die. 

He  died  in  August,  1815,  leaving  four  sons :  Richard 
II.,  James  Asheton,  Edward,  and  Henry  M.  Bayard,  and 
two  daughters. 

Richard,  the  eldest  son,  was  the  first  mayor  of  Wil 
mington.  He  afterward  twice  represented  Delaware  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  from  1836  to  1839,  and  from 
1841  to  1845,  and  was  Minister  to  Belgium  from  1849  to 
1852. 

James  Asheton,  the  second  son,  also  represented  his 
native  State  in  the  Senate,  to  which  body  he  was  elected 
in  1850,  1856,  and  1862.  This  remarkable  proof  of  the 
abiding  confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens  was  not  obtained 
by  any  of  the  arts  of  the  demagogue,  wThich  he  despised 
so  heartily  as  almost  to  err  on  the  other  side.  He  was  a 
consistent  constitutional  Democrat  throughout,  devotedly 
attached  to  the  Union  and  the  Constitution,  in  his  fidelity 
to  which  he  never  swerved ;  though  those  who  were  ready 
to  shift  their  position  with  every  phase  of  party  exigency, 
or  who  held,  with  Senator  Morton,  that  "  definitions  ad 
vance,"  in  measuring  his  distance  from  the  new  idols 


ANCESTRY   OF   MR.    BAYARD.  9 

which  they  had  set  np,  imagined  that  lie  had  moved  be 
cause  they  had  themselves  drifted. 

The  ties  which  bound  Delaware  to  her  sister  States  of 
the  South  were  strong  and  close,  and  there  were  not  want 
ing  fiery  spirits  who  would  gladly  have  seen  the  State 
swept  away  on  the  wave  of  the  secession  movement,  had 
not  her  wisest  and  most  trusted  leaders  resisted  it  to  the 
utmost.  The  whole  influence  and  constant  teaching  of 
the  Bayards,  father  and  son,  were  at  all  times  strongly  in 
favor  of  the  Union,  and  in  opposition  to  secession.  The 
action  of  the  Delaware  Legislature  in  promptly  reject 
ing  the  proposition  of  the  Mississippi  commissioner  to 
induce  Delaware  to  join  the  new  confederacy  was  wholly 
in  accord  with  their  views  and  earnest  counsels.  In 
fact,  the  only  disunion  sentiments  ever  uttered  in  Dela 
ware  were  heard  from  the  ranks  of  their  political  and  per 
sonal  opponents ;  and  such  sentiments  never  found  favor 
in  the  heart  of  that  ancient  and  patriotic  little  common 
wealth. 

As  a  lawyer  he  stood  in  the  first  rank ;  and  it  is 
hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  his  was,  perhaps,  the 
finest  legal  mind  that  Delaware,  in  her  long  line  of  emi 
nent  lawyers,  had  ever  produced.  His  great  strength  lay 
in  the  depth  and  singular  clearness  of  his  intellect.  lie 
possessed  but  few  of  the  graces  of  popular  oratory,  and 
none  of  the  arts  that  win  popularity ;  indeed,  what  gave 
him  eminence  as  a  lawyer  was  perhaps  somewhat  inju 
rious  to  him  as  a  pleader  and  public  speaker.  He  was 
apt  to  forget  his  hearers  and  the  impression  he  was  mak 
ing  or  desired  to  make  upon  them,  and,  following  closely 
the  line  of  thought  once  started,  was  utterly,  and  some 
times  amusingly,  forgetful  of  the  passage  of  time,  and  un 
conscious  of  what  wras  going  on  around  him. 


10  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

This  habit  of  absorbing  thought  made  him  sometimes 
absent-minded  to  an  extent  which  often  surprised,  and 
even  annoyed,  those  who  did  not  know  his  peculiarities. 
He  would  pass  acquaintances  and  even  intimate  friends 
on  the  street  without  a  sign  of  recognition,  and  by  this 
apparent  discourtesy  often  gave  serious  offense,  until  the 
cause  was  explained.  Being,  however,  a  man  of  remark 
able  simplicity  and  frankness  of  character,  wholly  free 
from  affectation  or  insincerity,  he  had  the  thorough  con 
fidence  of  all  who  knew  him.  Spotless  integrity,  and  a 
lofty  independence  and  straightforwardness  that  despised 
all  subterfuges,  finesse,  and  crooked  ways  to  ends  how 
ever  desirable,  marked  his  whole  career,  professional,  po 
litical,  and  social. 

Not  only  did  these  qualities  secure  him  the  unbroken 
confidence  of  his  friends  and  political  allies,  as  was  testi 
fied  by  his  re-elections  to  the  Senate,  but  they  were  can 
didly  admitted  by  his  political  opponents,  who  more  than 
once  paid  manly  tributes  to  his  worth.  An  instance  of 
this  occurred  in  the  wretched  business  of  the  Credit 
Mobilier,  from  which  more  than  one  once  fair  reputation 
issued  sadly  besmirched.  In  their  report  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  the  Republican  committee  of  investiga 
tion,  after  reflecting  severely  upon  the  conduct  of  some 
of  their  associates,  remarked :  "  We  commend  to  them, 
and  to  all  men,  the  letter  of  the  venerable  Senator  Bay 
ard,  in  response  to  an  offer  of  some  of  this  stock."  The 
letter  referred  to  was  written  in  1868,  before  the  true 
character  of  that  complex  web  of  fraud  had  been  ex 
posed,  and  in  it  Mr.  Bayard  had  said :  "  I  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  corporation  has  no  application  to  make 
to  Congress  on  which  I  shall  be  called  upon  to  act  official 
ly,  as  I  could  jiot,  consistently  with  my  views  of  duty, 


ANCESTRY   OF  MR.   BAYARD.  H 

vote  upon  a  question  in  which  I  had  a  pecuniary  in 
terest." 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  add  that  while  the  investi 
gation  was  in  progress,  and  no  one  could  say  on  whom 
next  the  plague-spot  of  corruption  would  be  detected,  no 
friend  of  Senator  Bayard  felt  a  moment's  uneasiness  lest 
he  should  for  one  weak  moment  have  dallied  with  the 
temptation. 

Mr.  Bayard  entered  political  life  as  a  Democrat,  and 
was  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  1828  as  a  "Jackson  man." 
From  the  constitutional  principles  of  that  party  he  has 
never  wavered,  nor  shrunk  from  the  open  avowal  of  his 
convictions,  in  war  or  in  peace.  Under  the  administra 
tion  of  Van  Buren  he  held  the  position  of  United  States 
Attorney  for  Delaware.  His  three  terms  in  the  Senate 
have  already  been  mentioned. 

When,  after  his  election  to  the  Senate  in  18G2,  the 
unconstitutional  "  iron-clad "  oath  was  offered  to  him, 
the  statesman  who  had  grown  gray  in  his  country's  ser 
vice,  he  felt  it  as  an  insult  as  well  as  an  outrage.  After 
an  impressive  argument  and  protest,  he  took  the  oath, 
and  resigned  his  seat.  Mr.  George  R.  Riddle  was  then 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy,  but,  this  gentleman  dying  not 
long  after,  Mr.  Bayard  was  prevailed  upon  to  return  and 
serve  out  the  unexpired  term  resulting  from  his  own 
resignation. 

While  in  the  Senate  he  filled  many  important  posi 
tions,  and  on  the  death  of  Judge  Butler,  of  South  Caro 
lina,  became  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary.  His  reports  and  arguments  upon  constitu 
tional  questions  always  had  great  weight,  and  are  still 
cited  as  authority. 

On  the  same  day  on  which  Mr.  Bayard  was  elected  to 


12  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

fill  his  own  unexpired  term,  his  son,  Thomas  F.  Bayard, 
was  also  elected  for  the  full  succeeding  term ;  and  on 
March  4,  1869,  both  father  and  son  were  senators,  the 
term  of  the  latter  beginning  at  noon  of  the  clay  when  that 
of  the  former  expired. 

Since  his  retirement  Mr.  Bayard  has  lived,  with  his 
family,  in  Wilmington,  where  he  still  survives  at  the  age 
of  eighty-one,  much  enfeebled  in  body,  but  cheered  by 
the  knowledge  that  his  place  is  filled  by  no  unworthy 
successor  to  his  name,  his  honors,  and  his  principles. 


CHAPTER  II. 

EARLY   LIFE   OF    ME.    BAYAKD. 

THOMAS  FRANCIS  BAYARD,  the  second  and  only  sur 
viving  son  of  James  Asheton  Bayard  and  Anne  Francis,* 
was  born  in  "Wilmington,  Delaware,  October  20,  1828. 

His  great-grandfather,  Richard  Bassett,  had  joined 
the  Methodist  Church  under  the  ministration  of  Bishop 
Francis  Asbury,  and  his  houses  in  Dover,  Wilmington, 
and  Bohemia  Manor  were  always  the  homes  of  the  itine 
rant  ministers  of  that  denomination.  Mr.  Bassett  was,  in 
various  ways,  a  leading  member  of  that  church,  and  its 
historian  has  had  frequent  occasion  to  mention  him  in 
terms  of  gratitude  and  eulogy. f  His  descendants  con 
tinued  the  hospitable  practice  of  entertaining  at  their 
homes  the  ministers  during  the  conference;  and  the 
venerable  Ezekiel  Cooper  always  made  his  home  in  Wil 
mington  at  the  house  of  James  A.  Bayard.  Born  of  a 
family  connected  with  Methodism  almost  from  its  estab 
lishment  in  this  country,  Thomas  Francis  Bayard  received 
the  rite  of  Christian  baptism  in  that  church. 

Young  Bayard's  boyhood  was  spent  in  Delaware  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  thirteen,  when  he  went  to  the 

*  Granddaughter  of  Captain  Tench  Francis,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was 
captain  of  a  troop  in  the  American  forces  in  the  Revolution. 

f  Stevens,  "History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  i,  316-318; 
ni,  405 ;  iv,  502. 


14  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

school  of  Dr.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  at  Flushing,  on  Long 
Island,  a  clergyman  distinguished  for  his  literary  attain 
ments  as  well  as  ripe  scholarship,  with  whom  he  remained 
until  the  establishment  was  broken  up. 

His  father  removed  to  New  York  in  1843,  as  a  wider 
field  for  the  practice  of  his  profession — the  law — where 
also  he  had  a  daughter  married  to  August  Yan  Cortlandt 
Schermerhorn.  This  lady,  however,  dying,  and  Mr.  Bay 
ard's  health  beginning  to  fail,  he  returned  to  Delaware. 
During  the  residence  of  his  father  in  New  York,  young 
Bayard  entered  the  mercantile  house  of  his  brother-in- 
law,  Mr.  Schermerhorn,  and,  applying  himself  to  his  du 
ties  with  zeal  and  intelligence,  laid  the  foundation  of  that 
sound  and  thorough  knowledge  of  business  and  that  clear, 
practical  grasp  of  all  Subjects  connected  with  trade  and 
finance  which  have  been  so  marked  a  feature  in  his  ca 
reer  as  a  statesman.  His  business  training  was  afterward 
continued  in  the  house  of  S.  Morris  Wain,  in  Philadel 
phia,  where  he  remained  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
twenty. 

At  this  time  the  death  of  his  elder  and  only  brother 
drew  him  back  to  his  parents  in  Delaware,  where  he 
entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1851,  assisting  his  father  in  his  practice. 

An  incident  of  this  period  of  his  life  has  been  re 
lated  to  us  by  a  personal  friend,  in  whose  words  we  relate 
it :  "  When  Mr.  Bayard  was  a  young  man,  and  not  trou 
bled  with  a  great  number  of  cases,  he  was  called  upon  to 
defend  a  young  employee  in  one  of  the  machine  shops 
who  had  been  accused  of  stealing  tools.  Mr.  Bayard  was 
successful  in  his  defense,  and  the  young  man  was  acquit 
ted.  In  consideration  of  his  services,  the  apprentices  and 
others  working  in  the  shop  made  up  a  sum  of  money  by 


EARLY   LIFE   OF  MR.   BAYARD.  15 

general  subscription,  and  brought  it  to  Mr.  Bayard,  who 
refused  to  take  it,  telling  them  to  give  the  money  to  the 
young  man,  who  would  need  it  to  help  him  to  set  up  for 
himself  and  make  a  start  in  life.  They  did  so ;  and  to 
day  that  man  is  a  respectable  citizen  of  Wilmington, 
owning  a  small  homestead,  and  quite  prosperous  in  busi 
ness." 

Young  as  he  was,  Mr.  Bayard's  marked  ability  was 
promptly  recognized,  and  in  1853  he  was  appointed 
United  States  Attorney  for  Delaware,  but  resigned  the 
office  in  1854.  Some  of  his  friends  jocosely  said,  in  allu 
sion  to  his  father's  high  reputation,  that  "-Tom  didn't 
like  to  hear  it  said,  whenever  the  firm  won  a  suit,  '  Oh, 
that's  the  old  man.'  He  wanted  to  go  where  he  could 
get  the  credit  of  what  he  did."  However  this  may  have 
been,  after  resigning  the  attorneyship,  he  removed  to 
Philadelphia,  and  associated  himself  in  legal  practice  with 
his  friend  William  Shippen. 

Here  he  remained  until  1858,  when,  Mr.  Shippen  dy 
ing  and  Mr.  Bayard's  father  being  much  occupied  with 
the  duties  of  his  public  office,  he  returned  to  Wilmington, 
and  devoted  himself  laboriously  to  his  profession,  in 
which  he  rapidly  attained  eminence. 

Besides  his  regular  professional  business,  his  ability 
and  character  caused  him  to  be  selected  by  many  of  his 
numerous  kindred  for  trusts,  executorships,  and  the  man 
agement  of  involved  estates ;  and  in  this  way  a  great 
mass  of  business  which  he  could  not  delegate  to  others 
has  been  thrown  upon  him.  Both  before  and  after  his 
entrance  upon  public  life,  he  has  been  one  of  the  hardest- 
worked  of  hard-worked  men. 

Early  in  1861,  when  war  was  seen  to  be  imminent,  and 
no  one  could  tell  what  perils  or  troubles  were  ahead,  the 


16  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

people  of  Wilmington,  like  those  of  most  towns  at  or 
near  the  border,  began  devising  means  for  self-protection 
in  case  of  any  disorders.  The  old  militia  laws  had  fallen 
into  disuse,  and  there  was  really  no  military  arm  to  sup 
port  the  civil  authority  in  case  of  any  necessity.  A  mili 
tia  company  was  therefore  organized  under  the  law,  with 
Mr.  "W.  Thatcher  as  captain,  and  Mr.  Bayard  as  first  lieu 
tenant.  Some  time  later  it  virtually  ceased  to  exist,  so 
large  a  number  of  its  members  having  enlisted  into  the 
United  States  Army  as  to  make  it  not  worth  while  to 
continue  the  organization,  though  it  was  never  dis 
banded.  During  the  excited  times  which  followed,  an 
officer  of  the  Federal  army,  whose  zeal  outran  his  discre 
tion,  demanded  the  arms  of  the  company,  which  Mr. 
Bayard  refused  to  surrender  without  an  order  from  Gen. 
Du  Pont,  commanding  the  militia  of  Delaware,  or  from 
the  Governor  of  the  State,  as  the  muskets  were  the  State's 
property.  The  officer  broke  open  the  door  of  the  ar 
mory  and  carried  off  the  muskets,  and  the  United  States 
Government  afterward  paid  the  State  of  Delaware  for 
them.  The  matter  would  not  be  worth  mentioning,  had 
it  not  given  rise  long  after  to  a  silly  story  that  Mr.  Bay 
ard  was  once  "  captain  of  a  rebel  company." 

In  June,  1861,  while  hopes  were  still  entertained  by 
many  of  a  peaceful  accommodation,  a  peace  meeting  of 
citizens,  without  distinction  of  party,  was  held  in  Dover. 
Mr.  Bayard  was  one  of  the  speakers.  While  some  of  those 
who  spoke  were  passionate  in  their  remarks,  he  was  calm 
and  temperate.  He  reminded  his  hearers  that  "  with  this 
secession,  or  revolution,  or  rebellion,  or  by  whatever  name 
it  may  be  called,  the  State  of  Delaware  has  naught  to  do. 
To  our  constitutional  duties  toward  each  and  every  member 
of  this  Union  we  have  been  faithful  in  all  times.  Never 


EAIJLY  LIFE   OF  MR.   BAYARD.  17 

has  a  word,  a  thought,  an  act  of  ours,  been  unfaithful  to 
the  Union  of  our  fathers ;  in  letter  and  in  spirit  it  has 
been  faithfully  kept  by  us." 

But  he  adverted  to  the  horrors  of  a  fratricidal  war  on 
so  gigantic  a  scale,  the  ruin  that  would  be  wrought,  and 
the  danger  that,  whatever  might  be  the  issue,  which  no 
man  then  could  certainly  foresee,  constitutional  liberty 
might  perish  in  the  struggle.  Better,  he  thought,  "  while 
deeply  deploring  the  revolution  which  has  severed  eleven 
States  from  the  Union,"  if  a  peaceful  accommodation 
was  impossible,  that  the  discontented  States  should  be 
allowed  to  withdraw  than  run  the  awful  risk  of  such  a 
war.  His  calm  and  earnest  eloquence  had  great  weight, 
and  the  meeting  resolved  "  that  there  was  no  necessity  for 
convening  the  Legislature." 

This  speech,  it  was  alleged  by  many,  saved  Delaware 
from  secession.  Whether  this  was  so  or  not,  it  certainly 
calmed  down  a  state  of  excitement  in  which  some  unwise 
action  might  have  been  taken.  "It  brought  to  men's 
minds,"  as  a  leading  Delawarian  said,  "  the  fact  that  they 
were  in  the  Union — had  no  part  in  the  rebellion,  and  that 
it  was  their  duty  to  remain  as  they  were,  and  keep  Dela 
ware  as  one  of  the  United  States."  In  this,  as  ever,  he 
approved  himself  faithful  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union  under  it,  his  devotion  to  which  has  never  wavered, 
as  witness  his  public  record,  from  first  to  last. 

There  was,  it  is  true,  a  secession  speech  made  at  that 
meeting  (at  least,  such  is  the  statement  of  a  newspaper), 
but  it  was  made  by  a  gentleman  now  an  office-holder  of 
the  Republican  party.  NOT  do  we  mean  to  imply  that 
this  gentleman  was  insincere  either  then  or  now  :  it  was  a 
time  when  many  men  were  thrown  off  their  balance,  and 
viewed  things  distorted  under  the  all-prevailing  excite- 


18  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

mcnt.  Not  all  had  the  calm,  steady  mind  that  stood  like 
a  rock  amid  the  storm. 

Though  always  much  interested  in  political  matters, 
he  had  scarcely  taken  any  prominent  part  in  them  until 
his  election  to  succeed  his  father  in  the  Senate,  as  has 
been  already  mentioned.  At  once  he  became  one  of  the 
most  active  and  laborious  members  of  that  body.  Of 
course,  the  small  conservative  minority  could  do  little  in 
controlling  legislation,  but  there  was  much  effective  work 
he  could  do  on  committees  ;  and,  on  matters  not  of  a  party 
character,  his  voice  was  often  heard  with  effect,  as  it  al 
ways  was  with  attention.  His  moderation,  urbanity,  dig 
nity  of  manner,  and  personal  character  won  him  the  es 
teem  of  his  political  opponents ;  and  even  the  overbear 
ing  Morton  and  passionate  Logan  treated  him  with  re 
spect.  They  recognized  in  him  an  antagonist  that  always 
fought  fair ;  that  never  willfully  misrepresented  an  oppo 
nent,  never  lost  his  temper,  and  never  struck  a  foul  blow. 
And  his  earnest  presentation  of  facts,  his  manly  appeals 
to  their  better  judgment,  often  carried  more  weight  than 
the  most  fiery  and  vehement  eloquence  could  have  done. 
And  as  he  would  not  condescend  to  tricks  in  debate,  so 
he  earnestly  opposed  all  irregular  strategy  in  party  action, 
such  as  placing  political  riders  on  appropriation  bills,  de 
feating  objectionable  legislation  by  withholding  supplies 
from  any  department  of  the  Government,  and  similar  in 
direct  tactics. 

Notwithstanding  his  robust  frame,  the  excessive  labor 
he  has  undergone  has  sometimes  taxed  him  to  the  utmost, 
and  in  1872  he  was  quite  broken  down  by  hard  work  on 
'the  New  York  Custom-IIouse  and  Southern  committees 
of  investigation.  However,  he  won  a  great  triumph  in 
the  repeal  of  the  moiety  laws,  and  those  permitting  the 


EARLY   LIFE   OF   MR.   BAYARD.  19 

seizure  of  merchants'  books  and  papers  under  "  general 
warrant " ;  for,  at  that  time,  the  Democrats  had  but  fif 
teen  votes  in  the  Senate,  and  not  only  the  custom-house 
officers  but  the  whole  administration  bitterly  opposed  the 
repeal. 

In  1875,  when  President  Grant  was  urging  the  pas 
sage  of  the  "  force  bills,"  and  a  struggle  of  sheer  endur 
ance  in  debate  was  imminent,  as  it  was  evident  the  revo 
lutionary  programme  could  only  be  defeated  by  steady 
and  prolonged  resistance,  Mr.  Bayard,  in  his  absence,  was 
chosen  by  his  associates  as  their  leader  in  the  coming 
contest. 

In  the  year  1877  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of 
LL.  D.  of  Harvard  College,  and  delivered  an  eloquent 
address  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  of  which  he 
is  an  honorary  member,  the  subject  being  "Unwritten 
Law."  Indeed,  so  general  has  been  the  admiration  of 
his  character  among  young  men,  who  are  so  quick  to 
recognize  true  chivalry,  that  he  has  been  made  honor 
ary  member  of  nearly  half  the  literary  societies  in  the 
country. 

In  the  Senate  he  is  now  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Finance,  and  member  of  the  Committee  on  the  Ju 
diciary. 

On  November  11,  1S79,  on  the  occasion  of  his  return 
from  Europe,  he  was  welcomed  by  his  fellow  citizens 
with  a  public  reception,  which  called  together  perhaps 
the  largest  assemblage  ever  collected  in  Wilmington.  Men 
of  all  parties  joined  in  welcoming  him,  and  testifying 
their  personal  respect  and  their  appreciation  of  his  ser 
vices  to  his  country.  He  made  a  brief  address,  full  of 
feeling  and  gratitude,  such  as  the  occasion  and  circum 
stances  might  well  excite.  "  This,"  he  said,  "  is  the  town 
o 


20  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

where  I  was  born,  as  was  my  father  before  me  ;  and  in 
this  room  is  many  a  face  well  known  to  me  from  child 
hood.  In  full  view  of  those  who  now  surround  me,  my 
life  has  been  lived,  and  my  incomings  and  outgoings  all 
known.  When,  therefore,  the  judgment  of  such  a  court 
comes  to  be  passed  after  a  full  half  century  of  trial  and 
experience  in  private  life  and  in  public  service,  and  it  is 
rendered  in  sentences  so  full  of  generous  approbation,  af 
fection,  and  respect  as  your  worthy  and  venerable  chair 
man  [Dr.  L.  P.  Bush]  has  addressed  to  me,  what  must  be 
my  emotions,  and  how  full  to  overflowing  my  cup  of 
blessings  and  of  honor !  " 

After  adverting  to  what  he  had  observed  in  Europe, 
he  contrasts  that  country  with  this,  not  to  make  the 
usual  vainglorious  boast,  but  to  draw  a  lesson  of  ad 
monition. 

"  This  summer  I  have  been  looking  across  the  Atlantic, 
thinking  of  the  country  I  could  not  see  ;  contrasting  what 
I  did  see  of  the  daily  lives  of  men  and  wromen  in  other 
lands  with  that  of  my  own,  and  when  so  often  I  heard 
'  Labor  with  a  groan  and  not  a  voice,'  and  realized  the 
abuses  and  injustice  of  class  privilege,  whereby  the  bar  of 
humble  birth  was  kept  and  fastened  on  men  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave,  I  turned,  as  if  for  purer  air,  to  the 
American  States,  where  the  noble  equities  of  humanity 
are  acknowledged  and  respected,  and  where  the  one 
great  essential  equality,  the  equality  of  opportunity,  is 
secured  to  all.  And  experience  and  reflection,  with 
increased  opportunities  for  comparison  with  other  coun 
tries  and  systems  of  government,  bring  me  only  to  a 
higher  appreciation  of  the  generosity,  justice,  and  moral 
grandeur  of  the  principles  upon  which  our  own  was 
founded. 


EARLY   LIFE   OF   MR.  BAYARD.  21 

"  But  my  admiration  for  our  system  of  government 
was  accompanied  by  an  apprehensive  realization  of  the 
conditions  under  which  only  it  can  be  practically  and 
permanently  maintained. 

"  And  the  conviction  grows  stronger  and  clearer  daily 
that  such  a  government  can  only  be  maintained  by  the 
exercise  and  employment  of  the  higher  and  better  qual 
ities  of  human  nature. 

"  It  is  a  government  of  laws  emanating  from  popular 
will,  but  that  will  must  be  for  honest  and  worthy  ends, 
accomplished  by  honorable  means.  It  is  controlled  by 
public  opinion,  but  that  opinion  must  be  the  intelligent 
result  of  knowledge  carefully  acquired,  and  deliberation, 
and  not  the  unstable  froth  of  tumult  and  gusty  passion. 
And,  to  make  public  principles  secure,  they  must  be  en 
grafted  on  private  honor ;  the  wishes  of  an  intelligent  and 
upright  constituency  must  be  reflected  by  intelligent  and 
upright  representatives. 

"A  faithful  representative  should  rather  displease 
his  constituents  than  consent  to  that  which  injures  them. 
It  is  his  duty  fully  and  freely  to  account  to  them,  but 
not  to  conceal  his  true  opinions  for  fear  of  their  dis 
pleasure,  for  his  enlightened  conscience  can  not  be  dis 
regarded  without  injury  to  them  and  his  entire  loss  of 
usefulness. 

"  To  maintain  this  government  of  ours,  such  are  some 
of  the  conditions,  and  it  is  upon  the  self-protecting  ele 
ments  of  society  that  we  must  rely." 

In  October,  1856,  Mr.  Bayard  married  Louisa,  daugh 
ter  of  Josiali  Lee,  a  well-known  banker  of  Baltimore,  and 
has  three  sons  and  six  daughters  living. 

In  his  family  life  Mr.  Bayard  is  exceedingly  plain  and 


22  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

domestic,  living  in  summer  in  Wilmington,  and  in  Wash 
ington  in  the  winter. 

A  newspaper  correspondent  thus  describes  his  home, 
and,  in  part,  the  host :  "  His  summer  home  is  a  fine  old- 
fashioned  mansion,  situated  in  the  outskirts  of  Wilming 
ton  (on  Clayton  Street),  which  was  once  the  property  of 
8  B.  Davis,  the  guardian  of  Myra  Clark,  now  known  to 
fame  as  Myra  Clark  Gaines.  It  is  a  roomy  house,  fur 
nished  with  a  view  solely  to  comfortable  living.  Mr. 
Bayard's  '  den,'  or  library,  has  all  the  marks  of  the  work 
ing  room  of  a  man  of  literary  tastes.  The  walls  are  lined 
with  book-shelves,  and  the  table  is  always  covered  with 
books  and  papers,  which  are  confusion  itself  to  anybody 
but  himself.  The  floor,  too,  is  strewed  with  books  and 
newspapers.  The  visitor  always  finds  the  host  at  work, 
but  never  too  busy  to  talk.  For  Tom  Bayard  is  not  only 
the  soul  of  hospitality,  but  one  of  the  most  fluent  talkers 
you  ever  saw.  When  he  gets  very  much  interested,  he 
is  apt  to  walk  up  and  down  the  room  with  his  hands  in 
his  pockets  and  indulge  in  a  monologue.  His  words  flow 
like  water  from  the  mouth  of  a  pitcher,  and  if  taken 
down  in  shorthand  they  will  be  found  to  make  perfect 
sentences  and  notable  for  the  display  of  a  rich  vocabulary. 

"  No  one  is  more  popular  in  Washington  society  than 
Mr.  Bayard,  and,  adding  to  his  genial,  manly  qualities  a 
thorough  acquaintance  with  French,  he  is  one  of  the 
most  sought-after  of  our  public  men  at  the  dinners  and 
receptions  of  the  diplomatists  who  make  their  residence 
here.  He  lives,  however,  the  life  of  a  very  simple  re 
publican  gentleman,  with  good  taste  and  unostentatious 
ly.  He  gives  his  hospitality  to  his  friends,  and  never 
turns  his  home  into  a  place  for  the  intrusion  of  vulgar  pol 
itics,  where  he  may  advance  his  interests  by  entertaining 


EARLY   LIFE   OF   MR.   BAYARD.  23 

a  horde  of  people  in  whom  he  has  no  interest  save  as  they 
may  advance  his  own." 

Yet  Mr.  Bayard  is  not  one  of  those  expansive  souls 
who  open  every  chamber  of  their  hearts  to  every  comer. 
There  is  a  delicate  reserve  about  him,  a  sort  of  shrinking 
from  anything  like  effusiveness,  which  has  been  some 
times  mistaken  for  pride.  This  quality  is  well  character 
ized  in  a  private  letter  from  a  gentleman,  eminent  for  his 
knowledge  of  men  and  fine  reading  of  character,  who  has 
known  him  for  twenty-five  years,  and  who  had  been  ap 
plied  to  by  the  writer  for  some  personal  reminiscences. 

"  Our  ideas  and  feelings,"  he  writes,  "  not  to  say  fan 
cies,  have  run  a  great  deal  in  the  same  grooves,  and  there 
has  been  a  sort  of  rapport  between  us,  which  has  been 
established,  naturally  enough,  no  doubt,  but  I  can  hardly 
tell  you  how.  He  is  very  fond  of  poetry,  and  very  much 
alive  to  its  influences  in  all  ways.  His  sensibilities  are 
quick ;  his  feelings  are  tender ;  he  has  a  great  deal  of 
sentiment,  and  before  he  took  to  finance  and  statesman 
ship  in  general  was  of  a  decidedly  imaginative  turn.  In 
social  and  private  life  he  is  absolutely  simple,  natural,  and 
unaffected,  with  a  boyishness  that  would  be  boyish,  if  it 
were  not,  like  everything  else  in  his  character,  thoroughly 
manly.  It  is  very,  very  attractive  to  me,  that  perfect 
genuineness  of  life,  thought,  and  conversation,  -in  any 
man  who  has  seen  the  world  and  knows  it ;  but  in  a  pub 
lic  man,  who  has  breathed  the  malarious  air  of  the  cap 
ital  for  so  many  years,  with  all  its  moral  sinks  and  un- 
drained  political  sewers,  it  is  positively  marvelous. 

"But  all  this  is  talk,  which  you  have  more  than 
enough  of.  I  have  not  one  reminiscence  to  give  you ; 
nor  do  I  believe  you  can  get  many  from  those  who  know 
Bayard  best  and  see  him  most.  He  belongs  to  that  thor- 


24  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

oughly  healthy  class  who  exhibit  no  symptoms — much 
less  phenomena.  You  would  not  notice  a  manly,  or  kind, 
or  gentle  thing  in  him,  because  you  associate  the  idea  of 
nothing  else  with  him.  If  I  wanted  him  to  try  a  case 
for  a  poor  client  for  nothing,  and  do  his  best,  I  would 
send  the  case  to  him  without  asking,  and  he  would  do  it 
as  a  matter  of  course.  He  lives  his  life  so  naturally  that 
you  can  not  write  it  unless  you  write  the  whole  of  it." 

But,  if  we  have  failed  to  depict  the  character  of  Mr. 
Bayard,  we  can  at  least  give  his  own  idea  of  what  an 
American  statesman  should  be,  as  told  in  his  speech  be 
fore  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  leave  those  who 
know  him  to  judge  how  far  his  own  life  corresponds  to 
his  ideal. 

"  It  is  in  our  power  to  create  a  standard  of  American 
character  and  manhood  as  lofty  as  that  of  any  age  or 
nation,  and  to  compel  our  representatives  at  home  and 
abroad  to  conform  their  conduct  to  it. 

"  The  spirit  of  true  chivalry  in  all  its  gentleness  and 
unselfishness,  showing  tenderness  to  the  feeble  and  resist 
ance  to  the  overbearing,  mercy  to  whom  mercy  is  due, 
and  honor  to  whom  honor,  can  and  does  exist  in  America 
to-day,  under  the  '  hodden  gray '  of  the  laborer  and  me 
chanic,  the  threadbare  coat  of  the  clerk,  or  the  grave  garb 
of  the  hard-worked  merchant  or  man  of  the  professions 
as  truly  as  it  ever  did  under  the  helmet  and  chain-armor 
of  any  knight-errant  in  the  olden  time. 

"  The  American  people  can  justly  demand  from  those 
who  are  delegated  to  represent  them  abroad  or  at  home  a 
punctilious  observance  of  honor  and  delicate  pride  in 
their  private  and  public  conduct,  and  the  moral  influence 
to  be  obtained  by  dignified  self-respect,  intelligence,  and 
high  personal  integrity  will  far  outweigh  any  attempted 


EARLY    LIFE   OF   MR.    BAYARD.  'J5 

competition  with  the  show  and  glitter  of  the  representa 
tives  of  other  governments,  not  based  upon  the  principle 
of  voluntary  and  orderly  self-control." 

And  we  may  close  this  chapter  with  the  closing  words 
of  his  address  to  the  students  of  the  University  of  Vir 
ginia,  as  the  echo  of  the  inmost  feeling  of  his  nature : 

"  Who  misses  or  who  wins  the  prize, 
Go,  lose  or  conquer  as  you  can ; 
But  if  you  fall,  or  if  you  rise, 

Be  each,  pray  God,  a  GENTLEMAN." 


CHAPTER   III. 

STATE  OF   POLITICS. — 18G9-'70. 

THOMAS  FRANCIS  BAYARD  entered  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  at  the  first  session  of  the  Forty-first  Con 
gress.  He  came  into  public  life  at  the  same  time  that 
General  Grant  first  took  the  presidency.  The  Presiden 
tial  election  of  the  preceding  year  had  been  a  most  excit 
ing  one,  because  so  many  conflicting  hopes  were  risked 
upon  it.  One  side  of  those  whose  political  convictions 
were  ardent  and  active  thought  that  all  that  had  been  ac 
complished  during  and  since  the  civil  war  was  staked 
upon  the  result ;  the  other  side  conceived  that  it  involved 
the  safety  of  all  that  remained  of  constitutional  govern 
ment.  Probably  much  the  larger  majority  of  voters  did 
not  hold  either  of  these  admittedly  partisan  views,  but 
they  were  tired  and  worn  out  with  the  excitements  and 
evil  effects  of  a  long  and  violent  struggle,  which,  after  the 
losses  and  bloodshed  of  four  years  of  frightful  strife,  had 
been  continued  during  four  more  years  upon  the  floors  of 
Congress.  They  wanted  a  settlement,  scarcely  caring 
upon  what  terms  it  was  made,  so  that  it  was  conclusive 
and  promised  to  be  final.  They  wanted  civil  peace  as 
well  as  military  truce ;  they  wanted  a  restoration  of  social 
harmony,  and  a  permanent  renewal  of  general  business  on 
the  basis  of  fiscal  reform  and  financial  regeneration. 

The  canvass  of  1868  was  made  by  the  Democratic 


STATE  OF  POLITICS.— 1869-"70.  27 

party  under  the  leadership  of  Horatio  Seymour,  of  Kew 
York,  a  statesman  whose  ability  and  patriotism  were  con 
ceded  even  by  those  who  were  inclined  to  deplore  his  ir- 
resoluteness,  not  to  say  vacillation,  in  making  up  his  mind 
to  action ;  but  his  force,  his  popularity,  and  his  winning 
eloquence  were  heavily  handicapped  by  the  widespread 
mistrust  inspired  by  the  nomination  of  Francis  P.  Blair, 
Jr.,  as  the  second  person  on  the  ticket — a  mistrust  which 
ripened  into  open  revolt  after  the  publication  of  General 
Blair's  "  Brodhead  letter,"  practically  asserting  his  belief 
that  the  constitutional  amendments  had  no  validity.  The 
platform  on  which  Mr.  Seymour,  an  avowed  "  hard-mon 
ey  man,"  had  been  nominated,  was  utterly  sophisticated 
and  made  distasteful  to  the  business  community  by  hav 
ing  injected  into  it  the  greenback  heresies  of  the  Ohio 
politicians.  On  the  other  hand,  both  the  candidates  and 
the  platform  of  the  Republicans  were  strong  and  positive. 
Those  who  objected  to  the  latter  had  at  least  the  satisfac 
tion  of  understanding  it.  It  pledged  the  party  and  the 
candidates  under  it  to  the  enforcement  of  the  constitu 
tional  amendments.  It  favored  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments  and  the  inviolability  of  the  public  debt.  The 
candidate  for  the  vice-presidency  on  this  ticket  was 
Schuyler  Coif  ax,  an  active  and  popular  politician,  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  whose  hopes  of 
a  career  had  not  yet  been  blighted  by  the  disclosure  of 
his  connection  with  the  Pacific  Railroad  Credit  Mobilier. 
Ulysses  S.  Grant,  the  nominee  for  the  presidency,  was 
stronger  in  those  days  than  either  his  party  or  its  plat 
form.  He  was  the  successful  military  chieftain  who  had 
conducted  a  great  war  to  its  end.  In  the  immediate  hour 
of  victory  he  had  been  modest  in  regard  to  himself,  mag 
nanimous  toward  his  enemies.  He  was  not  a  politician, 


28  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

and  he  had  seemed  anxious  to  eschew  a  party  nomination, 
expressing  his  wish  to  be  the  candidate  of  and  to  be  elect 
ed  "by  the  whole  people."  He  had  administered  the 
War  Department  frugally  and  prudently,  and  it  was  not 
then  known  that  he  was  incapable  of  true  statesmanship, 
and  had  not  a  jot  of  respect  for  the  reservations  and  limi 
tations  of  a  Constitution  whose  text  and  whose  principles 
he  knew  surprisingly  little  about.  Indeed,  very  little  was 
known  of  him  besides  his  military  history,  but  that  little 
was  generally  in  his  favor.  The  persistent  silence  of  such 
a  man  did  not  seem  to  be  either  perverse  or  vacuous,  when 
the  few  rifts  in  it  revealed  such  words  as,  "  Let  us  have 
peace." 

The  country  desired  peace  as  ardently  in  18G8  as  it  does 
in  1880,  and  people  who  were  not  politicians  nor  eager  in 
regard  to  the  exact  drawing  of  political  lines  and  political 
distinctions,  really  believed  and  hoped  that  peace  would 
be  obtained  by  supporting  the  candidature  of  Grant. 
In  the  election  of  November  3,  1868,  Grant  and  Colfax 
received  214  electoral  votes  to  80  for  Seymour  and  Blair. 
Delaware's  vote  was  given  to  the  latter,  and  Mr.  Bayard 
entered  the  Senate  to  become  the  steadfast  opponent  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  of  the  acts  and  tendencies  of 
President  Grant's  administration. 

This  opposition  was  not  the  outgrowth  of  a  factious 
temper,  nor  of  a  partisan  spirit.  Mr.  Bayard,  though 
always  a  party  man,  was  never  a  mere  partisan.  But  his 
close  observation  of  the  acts  and  debates  of  the  Thirty- 
ninth  and  Fortieth  Congresses  had  given  him  the  worst 
opinion  of  the  designs  of  the  Republican  majority  in 
Congress,  and  he  knew  that  even  so  strong  a  man  as 
Grant,  if  he  refused  to  lead,  would  be  compelled  to  follow 
in  the  pathway  of  extreme  radicalism.  He  knew  that  the 


STATE  OF  POLITICS.— 1869-'70.  20 

Forty-first  Congress  was  the  political  executor  of  its  im 
mediate  predecessors,  and  that  to  complete  and  "  perfect " 
the  "policy  of  reconstruction"  according  to  the  plan 
which  had  been  mapped  out  would  require  the  Repub 
lican  party  to  take  still  longer  strides  toward  centraliza 
tion,  and  to  make  still  more  serious  encroachments  upon 
the  Constitution.  Mr.  Bayard  entered  Congress  with  the 
one  leading  idea,  one  polar  star  of  intent,  which  every 
vote  cast,  every  word  uttered  by  him  in  his  senatorial 
service,  has  served  to  disclose  :  it  was  to  restore  the  Union 
in  reality  and  bind  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  in  the 
common  cause  of  national  pride,  honor,  and  welfare.  To 
this  end  he  has  denounced  and  opposed  everything  tainted 
with  sectional  animosity,  or  tending  to  the  injury  or  dis 
credit  of  the  Union.  His  guide  has  been  the  Constitu 
tion  and  the  equality  of  each  and  every  member  of  the 
great  "  family  of  States  "  and  their  inhabitants. 

The  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  in  seeking  what  it  chose 
to  consider  "  security  for  the  future,"  had  in  effect  re 
modeled  the  Constitution  to  suit  the  extreme  views  of  the 
overwhelming  majority  which  directed  its  legislation.  It 
had  passed  a  great  variety  of  measures,  such  as  the  Freed- 
man's  Bureau  Bill,  the  Civil  Rights  Bill,  the  Reconstruc 
tion  Act,  the  Tenure  of  Office  Act,  etc.,  which  President 
Johnson  regarded  as  being  unconstitutional.  When  he 
vetoed  them,  the  bills  were  passed  over  his  objections, 
and  the  House,  in  retaliation  for  his  disagreements  with 
Congress,  adopted  articles  of  impeachment  against  him, 
which  the  Fortieth  Congress  pressed  with  a  vehemence 
very  nearly  successful.  Mr.  Bayard  knew  that  President 
Grant  would  not  risk  exposing  himself  to  any  such  col 
lisions  with  Congress  as  those  which  President  Johnson 
was  forced  to  bear  the  brunt  of,  and  consequently  he  felt 


30  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

satisfied  that  the  reconstruction  policy  would  be  pushed 
forward  to  the  bitter  end. 

That  policy  inspired  every  one  holding  Mr.  Bayard's 
views  about  the  Constitution  with  the  most  gloomy  fore 
bodings.  The  power  claimed  for  Congress  to  enforce,  by 
"  appropriate  legislation,"  the  new  amendments  to  the 
Constitution,  was  practically  unlimited,  except  in  so  far 
as  that  body  was  amenable  to  the  pressure  of  public  opin 
ion  effectively  awakened.  The  opposition  in  Congress 
could  do  nothing  but  protest — so  long  as  the  majority  had 
a  two  thirds  vote  in  both  Houses  and  so  long  as  they 
proved  their  determination  to  maintain  this  controlling 
preponderance  of  force  by  admitting  new  communities 
like  Colorado  and  Nebraska  into  the  family  of  States, 
even  while  keeping  out  Virginia  and  Georgia  and  Louisi 
ana.  It  was  natural  to  suppose  that  General  Grant  would 
not  be  particularly  hostile  to  the  indefinite  maintenance 
of  military  government  in  the  South,  nor  to  the  "  enforce 
ment  acts "  which  practically  gave  to  commanders,  per 
sonally  appointed  by  him  from  among  his  favorites,  entire 
control  of  the  machinery  of  elections  in  that  section.  His 
ambition,  though  not  at  that  time  known,  was  suspected, 
and,  anyhow,  he  was  a  man  who  needed  to  be  curbed  by 
explicit  laws,  rather  than  to  be  given  free  rein  and  the 
impetus  of  new  powers  and  new  authority  created  ex 
pressly  for  him  to  exercise. 

The  Forty-first  Congress  was  not  comppsed  of  mem 
bers  likely  to  inspire  a  strict  constructionist  with  confi 
dence  in  their  moderation  or  their  power  of  abstention 
from  injurious  law-making.  In  many  respects  it  was 
worse  than  its  predecessors.  It  is  true  that  James  II. 
Lane  and  Benjamin  Wade  were  no  longer  there,  and 
Thaddeus  Stevens  had  succumbed.  But  Simon  Cameron 


STATE   OF   POLITICS.— 18G9-'70.  31 

and  John  Scott  sat  in  the  scats  of  Cowan  and  Buckalew, 
and  Oliver  P.  Morton  had  entered  the  Senate ;  Daniel 
Pratt  had  replaced  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  ;  Conkling  had 
succeeded  Ira  Harris,  and  the  successors  of  Collamer  and 
Fessenden  were  much  more  extreme  than  they  had  been. 
The  Democrats  had  secured  an  immense  gain  in  the  per 
son  of  Allen  G.  Thurman,  but  it  grieved  them  and  mor 
tified  even  their  opponents  to  see  the  vacant  seats  of 
senators  from  the  Southern  States  filled  so  generally  by 
the  class  of  men  called  "  carpet-baggers."  These  adven 
turers,  in  a  body,  voted  with  the  Radicals  on  political 
issues,  and  (with  some  few  exceptions)  put  their  votes 
where  they  would  "  do  them  the  most  good  "  in  indiffer 
ent  questions.  They  were  the  source  of  a  great  deal  of 
corruption,  and  eventually  of  great  injury  to  the  Repub 
lican  party,  but  their  votes  were  indispensable  in  working 
out  "  the  policy  of  reconstruction,"  and  for  the  sake  of 
these  votes  the  drill-masters  of  their  party,  such  as  Mor 
ton  and  Conkling,  graciously  condoned  their  "  evil  com 
munications,"  and  cherished  their  association. 

But  it  was  simply  a  caricature  upon  representa 
tive  government  to  find  the  seats  of  Houston  and  Wig- 
fall  filled  by  men  like  Flanagan  and  Hamilton ;  to 
see  "  Parson "  Brownlow  seated  where  John  Bell 
and  Andrew  Johnson  had  sat ;  to  see  Florida  repre 
sented  by  Gilbert  and  Osborn,  and  George  E.  Spen 
cer  and  Willard  Warner  coming  up  to  Washington 
with  their  credentials  as  "  senators  from  Alabama " 
stuffed  in  their  carpet-bags.  Louisiana  was  represent 
ed  by  such  men  as  John  S.  Harris,  William  Pitt  Kel 
logg,  and  J.  Rodman  West.  Mississippi  was  admit 
ted  with  Hiram  Revells  (colored  man)  and  Adalbert 
Auies  for  its  senators  (a  coup  de  theatre  which  soon 


;52  LIFE  OF  TUOMAS  F.   BAYAKD. 

ended).  South  Carolina  had  for  its  senators  T.  J.  Rob 
ertson  and  T.  J.  Sawyer.  There  were  certain  men,  named 
Abbott  and  Pool,  who  had  been  admitted  as  senators 
from  North  Carolina.  When  Clayton  and  Dorsey  came 
in  from  Arkansas,  the  carpet-bagger  coterie  was  quite 
made  up. 

In  spite  of  its  incongruous  elements,  and  its  diverse 
and  unequal  composition,  however,  the  Senate  of  the 
Forty-first  Congress  was  an  able  body,  and  a  picturesque 
one  also.  Schuyler  Colfax,  Yice-President  and  the  pre 
siding  ofiicer,  was  remarkably  well  fitted  for  the  perform 
ance  of  the  routine  and  physical  duties  devolving  upon 
him.  lie  was  quick,  alert,  and  fair  in  his  rulings.  He 
had  great  experience  as  a  Congressman,  and  had  served 
as  Speaker  for  three  successive  Congresses,  passing,  in 
deed,  direct  from  the  Speaker's  chair  to  the  Vice-Presi 
dent's.  The  Chaplain  of  the  Senate,  Rev.  J.  P.  Newman, 
D.  D.,  was  a  leading  divine  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and 
a  particular  friend  of  Grant,  to  whom  he  delighted  to 
minister.  The  Secretary  was  George  C.  Gorham,  of  Cali 
fornia,  esteemed  then  and  now  to  be  the  astutest  "  whip  " 
and  the  most  skillful  "  wire-puller  "  in  the  Republican 
party ;  while  conspicuous  among  the  lesser  officials  was 
the  venerable  and  white-headed  Isaac  Bassett,  from  time 
immemorial  assistant  door-keeper  of  the  Senate. 

The  habitues  of  the  reporters'  gallery  knew  all  those 
"  good  gray  heads  "  below  them  (but  the  Forty-first  Con 
gress  had,  perhaps,  more  than  its  proportion  of  men  whose 
locks  did  not  indicate  the  pale  cast  of  thought),  and  even 
the  most  transient  spectator  in  the  strangers'  gallery 
would  understand  that  senators  eat  right  or  left  of  the 
Vice-President's  desk,  according  to  their  party  affiliations. 
The  irony  of  the  arrangement  was  to  crowd  the  entire 


STATE   OF   POLITICS.— 1869-'7<>.  33 

body  of  conservative  members  upon  "  the  extreme  left," 
and  to  give  them  seats  upon  "  the  mountain  "  rather  than 
on  the  equable  plain  where  their  thoughts  were  wont  to 
exercise. 

Front  seat,  middle  aisle,  left-hand  side,  one  of  the 
best  seats  in  the  chamber,  was  occupied  by  Oliver  P. 
Morton,  the  "great  war  governor"  of  Indiana,  one  of 
the  clearest  heads,  the  ablest  minds  who  ever  came  into 
the  Senate.  If  Morton  had  been  in  Congress  earlier,  the 
radical  party  could  have  done  without  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
for  Morton  was  the  Mirabeau,  the  Marat,  and  the  Danton 
of  his  party.  An  intense  and  earnest  man,  the  logical  tex 
ture  of  his  intellect  was  so  fine  that  it  was  only  equaled 
by  the  convenient  pliancy  of  his  convictions.  He  was 
equally  intrepid  in  declaring  his  opinions,  and  in  abandon 
ing  them  when  they  became  inconvenient.  It  did  not 
trouble  him  to  see  the  reductio  ad  absurdum  at  the  end 
of  the  vista  of  his  argument,  and  his  "  platform "  was 
arranged  upon  the  principle  of  the  ferry-boat  piers  in 
New  York,  so  as  to  rise  and  fall  in  proportion  to  the 
height  of  every  tide.  Morton's  head  was  fully  as  clear  as 
the  general  tone  of  his  intellect  was  somber.  He  had 
what  is  called  a  "  legal  mind,"  and  his  mental  vision  was 
seldom  obscured  by  those  clouds  of  hesitancy  and  doubt 
which  breed  irresolution  in  persons  of  more  fastidious 
conscience.  He  was  seldom  surpassed  in  the  faculty  of 
stripping  off  the  veils  in  which  men  are  wont  to  cloak  a 
dubious  statement,  and  of  presenting  it  in  all  its  rude, 
naked,  brutal  force.  He  was  a  born  leader,  full  of  ambi 
tion.  He  wreaked  his  bitterness  upon  his  political  associates 
only  less  than  upon  his  political  enemies.  Oliver  P.  Mor 
ton  was  the  type,  and  the  ablest  exemplar  of  a  class  of 
politicians  which  has  come  to  the  surface  since  and  in 


34:  LIKE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

consequence  of  the  civil  war.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  they 
will  entirely  disappear  with  the  influences  which  gave 
them  conspicuousness  and  the  generation  in  which  they 
lived  and  have  been  tolerated. 

George  F.  Edmunds  had  an  equally  good  seat  on  the 
same  row,  and  four  desks  off  from  Morton.  Like  the 
Senator  from  Indiana,  Mr.  Edmunds  had  clean  hands  and 
a  clear  head,  but,  while  Morton  was  an  impetuous  leader, 
the  instinct  of  Edmunds  is  not  formative,  but  destructive. 
He  is  a  critic  and  a  detective,  with  a  much  keener  eye 
for  flaws  and  blemishes  than  for  beauties.  His  intellect, 
like  his  wit,  is  mordant ;  he  is  better  at  setting  pitfalls 
for  others  than  in  mapping  out  broad  pathways  for  him 
self.  He  conducts  politics  as  some  men  play  whist,  ex 
pecting  to  profit  more  by  watching  the  play  and  surpris 
ing  the  errors  of  his  opponents  than  by  his  own  superior 
skill.  He  ventures  less  upon  finesse  of  his  own  than  upon 
exposing  the  maladroitness  of  others.  It  is  currently  be 
lieved  among  the  attaches  of  the  Senate  that  Edmunds 
has  eyes  in  the  back  of  his  head,  and  that  his  ears  are 
never  confused,  no  matter  what  bedlam  of  sounds  may 
be  rife.  He  is  a  very  serviceable  Senator,  especially  to 
his  party ;  and  it  is  probably  not  a  bad  thing  for  a  seat  in 
the  Senate  to  be  constantly  occupied  by  a  man  who  is  at 
once  the  bane  of  fools  and  the  terror  of  adventurers  and 
jobbers. 

'Not  far  back  of  Mr.  Edmunds  sat  Roscoe  Conkling, 
who  already  then,  as  he  still  continues  to  do,  contem 
plated  himself  as  the  Senator  from  New  York.  The 
Senator  has  the  advantages  which  considerable  culture, 
great  abilities  as  a  lawyer  and  a  politician,  and  great 
adroitness  in  threading  both  the  broader  and  narrower 
ways  of  party  "  management,"  have  secured  to  him.  Mr. 


STATE   OF  POLITICS.— 1S69-"70.  35 

Conkling  was  tlic  rival  of  Senator  Morton  in  the  "  cabal " 
which  conducted  most  of  the  political  business  of  ex- 
President  Grant  during  his  two  terms  in  office,  and  it  is 
likely  that  Conkling  reaped  many  more  personal  benefits 
from  this  alliance  than  fell  to  Morton's  share.  But  he 
has  not  Morton's  political  courage,  much  less  his  moral 
and  physical  courage. 

William  Pitt  Fessenden,  of  Maine,  was  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Finance  in  March,  1869,  a  man  of  sin 
gular  ability  and  fairness.  His  vote  against  the  impeach 
ment  of  Andrew  Johnson  had  not  been  forgiven  by  his 
party,  but  he  was  allowed  to  hold  his  place  at  the  head  of 
the  Committee  on  Finance.  He  died,  however,  during 
the  recess  of  Congress,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  ensu 
ing  session  the  chairmanship  of  this  committee  fell  to 
John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  the  present  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Sherman  sat  on  the  left,  near  the  main  aisle. 
Careful,  laborious,  astute,  and  watchful,  Mr.  Sherman  was 
the  embodiment  of  calculation.  It  is  possible  that  he  has 
convictions  in  regard  to  finance,  to  the  tariff,  and  political 
affairs  generally  ;  it  is  certain,  however,  that  he  has  always 
held  to  these  by  a  cable  which  he  could  slip  whenever 
the  breeze  seemed  either  to  favor  or  to  threaten.  In  re 
lation  to  the  currency,  Mr.  Sherman  has  shifted  his  helm 
quite  as  often  as  Morton ;  but  what  Morton  did  for  the 
good  of  the  party,  Mr.  Sherman  did  for  the  good  of  John 
Sherman.  He  probably  knew  more  about  banking  than 
any  other  man  in  Congress ;  and  in  his  present  position 
it  must  not  be  denied  that  he  has  done  the  country  sub 
stantial  service. 

The  three  seats  on  the  extreme  right  of  the  Senate 
Chamber  were  occupied  by  a  rare  group.  In  front  was 
William  G.  Brownlow  ;  behind  him  Hiram  II.  Eevells,  the 


36  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

comfortable-looking  mulatto  selected  to  succeed  Jefferson 
Davis  ;  while  the  upper  seat  was  filled  by  Mr.  J.  "W. 
Flanagan,  of  Flanagan's  Mills,  Texas,  whose  like  the 
Senate  will  not  soon  look  upon  again.  This  Senator, 
whose  orthography  was  practically,  if  not  theoretically, 
phonetic,  and  who  regarded  all  syntax  as  an  open  ques 
tion,  if  not  an  impertinence,  was  always  conspicuous  in  the 
discussions  of  educational  subjects.  When  the  Republi 
cans  in  1873  displaced  Charles  Sumner  from  his  post  as 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  put 
ting  Simon  Cameron  in  his  stead,  they  assigned  Sumner 
to  the  foot  of  Flanagan's  class,  the  Committee  on  "  Edu 
cation  and  Labor,"  of  which  he  was  chairman,  and  his 
son,  who  on  his  visiting  cards  described  his  office  as 
"  Cleark,"  was  clerk. 

On  the  rear  seat,  behind  Mr.  Edmunds,  sat  Charles 
Sumner,  and  in  front  of  him  Henry  Wilson,  his  Colleague 
from  Massachusetts.  Carl  Schurz,  present  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  was  in  the  front  row  on  the  left  side  of  the 
Chamber,  his  colleague,  Charles  D.  Drake,  whose  effi 
cient  services  to  Republicanism  were  paid  with  the  Chief 
Judgeship  of  the  Court  of  Claims,  occupying  an  outside 
desk  on  the  right  of  the  main  aisle.  On  the  right  of 
Edmunds  sat  Henry  B.  Anthony,  of  Rhode  Island,  one 
of  the  oldest,  shrewdest,  and  most  capable  Senators  in  the 
whole  body,  looking  much  more  like  a  "  cotton  lord  " 
than  his  colleague,  William  Sprague.  On  Mr.  Anthony's 
right  sat  a  "  studious-looking,  stoop-shouldered  gentle 
man  " — Mr.  Justin  S.  Morrill,  late  Chairman  of  the  Ways 
and  Means  Committee  of  the  House,  and  author  and 
framer  of  the  successive  bills  which  have  saddled  the 
country  with  the  protective-tariff  system.  Mr.  Morrill 
seized  his  opportunity  early,  in  March,  1861,  in  fact,  as 


STATE   OF  POLITICS.— 1869-'70.  37 

soon  as  the  members  whose  States  had  seceded  were  out 
side  the  doors  of  Congress,  and  he  probably  knows  more 
about  "  woolens  "  than  any  other  man  in  "Washington. 

In  the  front  row  sat  Simon  Cameron,  between  John 
Pool  and  Justin  Merrill,  his  small  eyes  twinkling  cannily 
beneath  the  gray  pent-house  brows.  On  Mr.  Edmunds's 
left,  stout,  oleaginous,  Pecksniffy,  was  Samuel  C.  Pome- 
roy,*  one  of  Kansas's  senators,  and  behind  him  Hannibal 
Hamlin,  of  Maine,  a  fossiliferous  remnant  of  ante-bellum 
days  in  look,  but  modern  enough  and  wise  enough  in  ways 
if  you  came  to  deal  with  him.  Keuben  E.  Fenton,  the 
Greeleyite  Senator  from  New  York,  sat  in  the  middle  row 
on  the  far  right,  and  behind  him  Matthew  H.  Carpenter, 
of  Wisconsin,  a  man  whose  appearance  and  whose  address 
are  equally  fascinating,  a  clever  lawyer,  and  the  most 
ready  debater  on  constitutional  questions  in  the  Senate, 
whose  mind  is  as  clear  as  a  bell,  who  argues  one  way 
and  votes  another,  and  continually  takes  retainers  in 
causes  which  he  despises.  Not  far  from  Sumner  sat 
James  W.  Nye,  of  Nevada,  whose  vulgar  wit  must  have 
been  particularly  distasteful  to  the  fastidious  Senator 
from  Beacon  Street.  Jacob  M.  Howard,  of  Michigan,  a 
plodding,  laborious  Senator,  but  a  good  lawyer,  sat  on 
Nye's  right,  and  on  Mr.  Howard's  right  again  was  Zacha- 
riah  Chandler,  Howard's  uproarious  colleague,  gaunt, 
harsh,  boisterous,  repulsive,  purse-proud,  but  prompt, 
resolute,  energetic,  full  of  daring,  full  of  business  training 
and  resourceful  mother-wit,  and  utterly  unscrupulous  in 
regard  to  any  question  of  ways  and  means.  Chandler 
knew  both  men  and  things  thoroughly  well.  His  success 
as  a  merchant  was  easy  to  understand.  One  of  his  speeches 
in  the  Senate  in  1870,  on  the  decline  of  American  ship- 

*  Souator  Dilworthy,  of  the  "  Golden  Age." 


38  LIFE    OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ping,  made  after  a  visit  to  the  British  iron-ship  yards  on 
the  Clyde  and  the  Mersey,  is  quite  the  best  speech  on 
that  subject. 

Lyman  Trumbull,  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  and  most 
conscientious  men  in  the  Senate,  sat  beside  Timothy  O. 
Howe,  Carpenter's  colleague,  not  a  bad  lawyer  himself,  but 
a  wretched  speaker.  James  Ilarlan,  of  Iowa,  who  became 
Grant's  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  George  H.  Wil 
liams,  of  Oregon,  afterward  Grant's  Attorney  General,  did 
not  sit  together,  but  were  "  tarred  with  the  same  stick." 
If  they  had  come  from  Southern  States,  they  would  have 
earned  the  title  of  carpet-baggers.  Both  notoriously  un 
scrupulous,  Harlan  found  in  the  Indian  Bureau  what 
Williams  sought  in  the  department  of  justice,  and  both 
are  thought  to  have  worked  their  placers  pretty  well. 

The  Democratic  phalanx  in  the  Senate  when  Mr. 
Bayard  came  to  reinforce  it  was  not  strong,  neither  was 
it  compact.  The  two  oldest  members,  George  Tickers, 
of  Maryland,  and  Garrett  Davis,  of  Kentucky,  happened 
to  be,  both  of  them,  uncompromising,  old-line,  Henry 
Clay  Whigs,  and  devoted  and  "unconditional  Union 
men,"  whose  war  fevers  and  war  fervor  had  been  sud 
denly  quenched  by  Mr.  Lincoln's  emancipation  proclama 
tion  and  by  the  anti-slaver^  amendment.  Both  these  es 
timable  old  gentlemen  had  had  "  hay  on  their  horns  "  for 
some  years  at  the  very  idea  of  an  enforced  negro  equal 
ity  ;  and  the  zeal  with  which  they  now  fought  for  the 
reserved  rights  of  the  States  was  as  amusing  as  it  was 
sincere.  It  recalls  an  anecdote  which  that  eminent  Knick 
erbocker,  James  W.  Gerard,  used  to  tell  of  the  famous 
"  Doctors'  Riot "  in  New  York.  Among  those  who  went 
out  with  the  Mayor  and  the  troops  was  Baron  von  Steu- 
ben,  the  Revolutionary  general,  who,  when  the  military 


STATE  OF  POLITICS.— 1S69-'70.  39 

were  about  to  fire,  lifted  his  hands  in  horrified  protest. 
"  For  God's  sake,  do  not — "  he  began,  when  a  well-aimed 
missile  struck  him  in  the  forehead  and  felled  him  to  the 
ground.  As  soon  as  he  could  be  picked  up,  he  shouted,  in 
quite  a  different  tone :  "  Shoodt  the  taint  schoundrels, 
Mayor,  shoodt  dem  ! " 

Mr.  Vickers  was  a  small,  quiet,  unobtrusive  gentleman, 
of  very  estimable  life.  He  had  grown  gray  as  a  family 
lawyer  in  a  country  town,  and  was  not  used  to  the  turmoil 
of  politics.  He  was  sound  and  stanch,  however,  delivered 
long,  solid  constitutional  arguments,  that  were  a  bit  prosy, 
perhaps,  but  he  could  and  did  sit  it  out  with  the  best  of 
them  in  those  frequent  all-night  sessions  in  which  argu 
ment  was  hopeless,  and  filibustering  became  a  disagreeable 
party  duty.  Mr.  Garrett  Davis,  on  the  contrary,  was  a 
salamander  in  the  fire  of  politics,  his  natural  element.  He 
was  the  most  peppery  of  senators,  always  quarreling,  and 
never  letting  the  sun  go  down  upon  his  wrath.  The  sun 
often  went  down,  and  sometimes  rose,  upon  his  speeches, 
however,  which  were  the  longest  of  the  period,  dry  as 
stubble,  and  seldom  exhilarating  in  their  style.  Mr.  Davis 
was  a  sterling  old  gentleman,  as  courteous  and  high- 
minded  as  he  was  garrulous,  and  as  ready  to  joke  as  any 
of  his  opponents  were  about  "  the  short  gentleman's  long 
speeches." 

On  some  of  the  questions  arising  in  the  Senate,  then 
and  later,  the  Democrats  were  aided  by  the  voices  and 
votes  of  Lyman  Trumbull,  of  Boreman  and  Willey,  the 
two  senators  from  West  Virginia,  of  Hamilton,  of  Texas, 
Norton,  of  Minnesota,  Fenton,  of  New  York,  and  Tipton, 
of  Nebraska,  the  latter,  together  with  Fowler,  of  Tennes 
see,  and  Robertson,  of  South  Carolina,  becoming  more 
and  more  liberal  as  their  experience  grew.  But  the  Dem- 


40  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ocratic  names  which  could  be  depended  upon  on  all  occa 
sions  were  few  indeed  when  Mr.  Bayard  came  first  to  the 
Senate.  Eugene  Casserly,  of  California,  was  one  of  the 
best  and  strongest  of  these — a  man  who  always  stood  by 
Mr.  Bayard's  side.  In  the  New  York  Custom-House  In 
vestigations  Mr.  Casserly  and  Senator  Bayard  were  in 
steady  cooperation.  William  T.  Hamilton,  of  Maryland, 
the  present  Governor  of  that  State,  was  a  clear,  logical 
speaker,  a  strict  State-rights  Democrat,  and  a  pronounced 
and  most  uncompromising  believer  in  hard  money.  Large, 
portly,  yet  active  in  person,  plain,  homely,  farmer-like  in 
dress  and  manners,  with  an  emphatic  style  of  direct  speech, 
and  in  conversation  a  proclivity  for  expletives  and  round, 
Jacksonian  oaths,  few  who  did  not  know  him  were  able  to 
detect  under  this  exterior  the  wealthy  capitalist  and  bank 
er,  the  experienced  politician,  and  a  Congressman  of  three 
successive  terms.  Mr.  Hamilton's  seat  was  about  mid 
way  of  the  middle  row  of  desks  upon  the  left.  The  far 
thest  seat  upon  the  outer  row  on  the  left  was  occupied  by 
John  W.  Johnston,  then  as  now  Senator  from  Virginia, 
a  safe,  unassuming  man,  business-like  rather  than  brilliant, 
but  looking  after  the  concerns  of  his  constituents  with 
steadfast,  unflagging  solicitude. 

In  the  same  row,  in  the  rear  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  sat 
Thomas  C.  McCreery,  of  Kentucky,  whose  confessed 
laziness  did  not  prevent  him  from  being  one  of  the  most 
original  and  striking  " characters"  of  the  Senate.  He 
probably  thought — at  any  rate,  acted  as  if  he  thought — 
that  Garrett  Davis  had  superfluous  energy  enough  for  two 
senators.  He  seldom  spoke,  seldom  made  a  motion,  or 
offered  a  resolution,  or  indulged  in  incidental  remarks 
(the  index  of  Senate  proceedings  gives  ten  times  as 
much  space  to  Sherman  or  Sumner,  or  Pomeroy,  as  to 


STATE   OF   POLITICS.— 18G9-'70.  41 

McCreery),  yet,  whenever  he  did  speak,  he  was  sure  of 
a  large  and  delighted  audience,  for  he  was  an  orator  such 
as  only  Kentucky  has  produced,  elegant,  ornate,  imagina 
tive.  He  had  the  appearance  and  wore  the  dress  of  the 
"  old  school,"  but  in  a  sort  of  neglige  withal.  His  round 
figure,  bald  head,  encinctured  as  with  the  priestly  tonsure, 
and  his  somnolent  manner,  were  charmingly  conspicuous 
from  the  galleries. 

Mr.  Bayard's  desk  was  immediately  in  front  of  that 
of  Mr.  John  P.  Stockton,  Democratic  Senator  from  New 
Jersey.  Mr.  Stockton,  son  of  Commodore  Stockton,  the 
distinguished  millionaire  diplomatist  and  Senator,  was 
himself  marked  with  many  traits  inherited  from  his 
father.  He  had  the  look,  the  aplomb,  and  the  manners 
of  a  resident  at  foreign  courts,  as  he  had  been,  and  was 
withal  a  most  able  Senator  and  a  thoroughly  capable  man 
in  every  way.  His  thoughtful  face  and  incisive  address 
were  sharpened  and  intensified  by  the  consciousness  that 
he  had  been  made  to  suffer  unworthily  for  opinion's  sake. 
He  was  unquestionably  turned  out  of  the  Senate  by  a 
majority  vote  on  March  27,  1866,  in  order  to  give  the 
Republicans  a  two  thirds  majority  in  that  body.  Mr. 
Stockton  was  a  Democrat  by  education  and  conviction, 
and  he  and  Mr.  Bayard  worked  together  with  perfect 
unanimity  on  many  momentous  occasions.  He  looked, 
dressed,  and  had  the  manners  of  a  high-bred  man  of  the 
world,  was  a  clever  debater,  and  never  missed  the  chance 
to  make  a  point  against  his  political  opponents. 

Willard  Saulsbury,  who  sat  next  to  Mr.  McCreery  and 
was  Mr.  Bayard's  colleague,  as  he  had  been  the  colleague 
of  James  Asheton  Bayard,  was  not  a  ready  debater,  though 
a  frequent  one.  But  he  was  a  good  lawyer,  having  served 
for  five  years  as  Attorney  General  of  Delaware,  and  he 


42  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

was  the  last  surviving  Democrat  of  the  old  regime  left  in 
the  Senate.  The  wave  which  swept  Jesse  D.  Bright  away 
had  failed  to  remove  Mr.  Saulsbury,  who  was  an  inveterate 
peace  Democrat,  always  ready,  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
to  raise  his  voice  in  protest  against  the  revolutionary  acts 
which  he  could  not  arrest.  Mr.  Saulsbury,  who  originally 
came  into  the  Senate  in  1859,  was  perhaps  a  "  Bourbon," 
but  he  had  in  a  very  high  degree  the  courage  of  his  opin 
ions,  and  all  through  the  period  from  1860  to  1870  he 
never  ceased  to  denounce  what  he  found  to  be  contrary 
to  the  principles  he  held  and  flagitious  in  his  views  of  the 
sanctity  of  the  Constitution.  His  speeches  were  elaborate, 
long,  heavy,  but  downright  and  direct.  The  Republicans 
tried  to  avoid  replying  to  him,  but  very  often  his  stalwart 
accusations  irritated  them  to  make  fierce  retorts.  An  in 
domitable  stickler  for  precedent,  restless,  impatient,  often 
pacing  the  carpet  in  the  rear  of  the  senators'  seats,  Mr. 
Saulsbury  never  concealed  that  half  his  affection  for  Dela 
ware  consisted  in  admiration  of  her  old  ways.  "  I  say,  as 
one  of  the  representatives  of  Delaware  on  this  floor,"  he 
remarked  when  the  Freedman's  Bureau  Bill  was  under  dis 
cussion  in  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  "  that  she  has  the 
proud  and  noble  character  of  being  the  first  to  enter  the 
Federal  Union  under  a  Constitution  formed  by  equals. 
She  has  been  the  very  last  to  obey  a  mandate,  legislative 
or  executive,  for  abolishing  slavery.  She  has  been  the  last 
slave-holding  State,  thank  God,  in  America,  and  I  am  one 
of  the  last  slave-holders  in  America." 

Next  to  Senator  Johnston  sat  Allen  G.  Thurman,  of 
Ohio,  one  of  the  best  and  readiest  debaters,  ablest  law 
yers,  and  clearest-headed  men  who  ever  came  to  the 
Senate.  No  one  can  note  his  square,  sturdy  figure,  his 
firm  face,  not  without  the  illumination  of  a  sort  of  grim 


STATE   OF   POLITICS.— 1869-'70.  43 

humor  twinkling  in  it,  and  the  inimitable  flourish  of  his 
red  bandanna  handkerchief  as  he  takes  snuff,  without 
recognizing  at  once  the  mental  gladiator  filled  with 
certaminis  gaudia.  A  Virginian  by  birth,  brought  up 
among  plain  Ohio  folks,  a  judge  and  a  lawyer  deep  read 
in  the  principles  and  versed  in  all  the  practical  rules  of 
his  profession,  an  ardent  politician  of  the  Jacksonian 
school,  with  amendments  made  to  conform  systems  to  his 
own  original  thought,  Senator  Thurman  came  to  the 
Senate  fortified  with  a  store  of  unusual  resources,  which 
he  is  always  willing  and  even  eager  to  draw  upon  at 
sight  in  an  unlimited  way.  Critical  as  Edmunds,  he  has 
that  sort  of  constructive  ability  in  which  Edmunds  is 
conspicuously  lacking.  His  services  on  the  Judiciary 
Committee  have  been  important  and  valuable,  and  his 
power  of  work  is  simply  prodigious.  Edmunds  can  pick 
to  pieces  a  bill,  a  charter,  or  a  proposition,  but  Thurman 
can  amend  it  so  as  to  remove  its  evils,  and  give  vitality 
and  usefulness  to  what  was  before  noxious  and  injurious. 
He  is  full  of  ambition,  wants  to  be  President,  likes  the 
sound  of  his  own  voice.  He  would  have  been  a  still  more 
serviceable  Senator,  a  more  prominent  and  a  more  con 
sistent  statesman,  had  he  chanced  to  represent  some  other 
State  than  Ohio.  The  turbid  condition  of  politics  there, 
the  conflict  of  interest  and  faction,  the  winds  of  party 
favor  blowing  from  so  many  different  quarters,  have  not 
always  enabled  this  learned  and  astute  Senator  to  sail  as 
directly  on  one  course  as  plain  men  desire.  He  has  had 
to  steer  between  Scylla  and  Charybdis,  and  his  keel  has 
been  abraded  by  the  deadly  rocks  upon  both  larboard  and 
starboard.  The  Democratic  party  and  the  country,  how 
ever,  owe  a  debt  of  recognizance  to  Judge  Thurman 
which  it  will  not  be  easy  to  forget.  His  acumen,  his 
3 


44  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

logic,  his  learning,  his  quickness  and  intrepidity  in  debate, 
have  all  availed  him  to  stand  in  the  breach  and  defend 
the  Constitution.  He  has  done  yeoman's  service  in  pull 
ing  up  radical  Republicanism  upon  its  desperate  course,  in 
bringing  it  to  its  senses,  and  in  awakening  the  whole 
country  to  its  fatal  designs.  He  has  found  out  how  to 
arrest  and  put  constitutional  checks  upon  the  great  cor 
porations  and  monopolies,  and  has  brought  the  insolence 
of  land-grant  railroad  companies  to  swift  punishment. 

Thurman,  Bayard,  Stockton,  Casserly,  Davis,  Yickers, 
Hamilton,  Trumbull,  and  Schurz,  by  the  power  and 
force  of  their  oratory,  and  the  awakened  attention  of  the 
country  to  it,  wrought  a  great  change  in  the  manner 
of  transacting  business  in  the  Senate.  Debate  was  re 
sumed  in  the  Forty-first  Congress,  after  sleeping  in  pa 
ralysis  through  the  Thirty-eighth,  the  Thirty-ninth,  arid 
the  Fortieth  Congresses.  In  those  former  years,  under 
the  force  of  a  two  thirds  majority,  it  was  the  practice  to 
concoct  and  shape  measures  in  caucus,  propose  them  in 
Congress,  allow  the  Democrats  a  limited  time  to  speak 
against  them,  the  Republicans  making  no  replies,  and 
voting  down  all  amendments.  Then,  after  a  brief  speech 
by  the  "  manager "  of  the  bill,  the  Houses  passed  to  the 
order  of  the  day,  the  bill  was  put  through  under  the 
party  lash,  and  sent  at  once  to  the  President.  But  a  new 
order  of  things,  or  rather,  a  return  to  the  old  order,  be 
gan  with  the  Forty-first  Congress.  The  caucus  cowhide 
was  less  often  applied ;  Republicans,  who  became  individu 
ally  responsible  for  measures,  found  that  the  combined 
assaults  of  the  Democratic  leaders  put  them  and  their 
bills  upon  the  defensive.  The  party  no  longer  dared  to 
go  to  the  people  upon  bills  in  regard  to  which  public 
opinion  was  untried.  Thus  debate  began  again,  and  the 


STATE  OF  POLITICS.— 1869-'70.  45 

opportunity  was  afforded  to  the  Democratic  senators  to 
show  the  fallacies  and  the  quicksands  upon  which  their 
opponents  were  trying  to  build  their  fabric  of  government. 
This  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  Democratic  cause,  and 
enabled  the  devoted  leaders  in  the  Senate  and  House 
to  seize  upon  and  foster  the  reaction  already  beginning 
in  1869,  in  consequence  of  the  flagrant  incapacity  of  the 
carpet-baggers,  the  prostrate  and  miserable  state  of  the 
helpless  South,  and  the  uncompromising  assaults  of  Re 
publicans  upon  the  very  essence  of  the  Constitution. 
Extravagant  expenditures,  disordered  finances,  and  the 
enormous  burdens  of  the  tariff  and  internal  revenue  sys 
tem,  all  combined  to  promote  this  reaction,  and  the  Dem 
ocrats  in  House  and  Senate  were  prompt  to  show  that 
the  blame  for  all  these  disorders  belonged  to  the  Repub 
lican  majority. 

There  were  many  able  men  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  at  the  time  when  Mr.  Bayard  entered  the  Sen 
ate.  James  G.  Elaine,  the  Speaker,  Dawes,  Allison,  Beck, 
Yoorhees,  Sergent,  Barnum,  are,  or  have  been,  senators 
since  then.  Garfield,  B.  F.  Butler,  Poland,  Hale,  Morell, 
Schenck,  Lawrence,  Bingham,  Maynard,  Orth,  Tyner, 
Burchard,  Hawley,  McCrary  were  all  strong  men  and 
good  debaters  on  the  Republican  side.  The  Democrats 
were  led  by  Michael  C.  Kerr,  of  Indiana,  afterward 
Speaker,  and  who  was  ably  seconded  by  James  Brooks, 
Fernando  Wood,  S.  S.  Cox,  Williams,  Beck,  and  Mar 
shall,  in  the  tariff  discussions,  and  by  Clarkson  TsT.  Potter, 
Woodward,  Knott,  and  Yoorhees,  on  matters  appertain 
ing  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws.  William  S.  Holman, 
the  "  watch-dog  of  the  Treasury,"  was  probably  a  better 
critic  of  appropriation  bills  than  any  opposition  party  ever 
had  before  or  since. 


46  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

In  the  final  analysis,  it  may  be  said  that  the  issues  in 
1869-'70  were  quite  as  important  as  those  of  1865-'T. 
The  civil  war  was  fought  out  upon  the  general  question 
of  the  supremacy  of  the  Union.  This  having  been  once 
and  forever  finally  determined,  parties  divided  naturally 
and  inevitably  upon  the  terms  upon  which  the  Union 
should  be  reconstituted.  Upon  this  issue,  while  the 
Democrats  favored  restoration,  with  the  Constitution  as 
nearly  unimpaired  as  might  be,  the  Republican  party  al 
most  universally  held  for  reconstruction — in  other  words, 
for  a  Union  based  upon  their  particular  interpretation  of 
the  Federal  compact,  an  interpretation  which  they  thought 
they  were  entitled  to  enforce,  not  because  it  was  logical, 
or  probable,  or  according  to  the  language  of  the  instru 
ment  to  be  construed,  but  because  they  had  the  power, 
and  because  it  seemed  to  insure  the  empire  for  which 
they  had  spent  so  much  blood  and  treasure.  This,  then, 
was  the  line  upon  which  parties  were  drawn  when  Mr. 
Bayard  first  came  into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

OUTLINE   OF   MR.    BAYABD'8    POLITICAL    SERVICES. 

MB.  BAYARD  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  March  4, 
1869.  The  oath  of  office  was  that  well-known  "iron 
clad"  oath,  framed  expressly  and  ingeniously  to  be  a 
standing  obstacle  in  the  way  of  every  respectable  person 
elected  to  Congress  from  any  State  south  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line.  It  was  the  oath  which  his  father  had  first 
taken,  and  then,  in  stern  resentment  that  such  an  indig 
nity  should  be  put  upon  one  who  had  served  the  State  so 
long,  resigned.  Mr.  Bayard  took  this  oath,  and  he  has 
kept  it  in  a  religious  sort  of  way  not  pleasing  to  his  political 
opponents,  who  do  not  agree  at  all  with  him  in  his  under 
standing  of  the  obligations  which  he  assumed  in  declaring 
"  And  I  do  further  swear  that,  to  the  best  of  my  knowl 
edge  and  ability,  I  will  support  and  defend  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  against  all  enemies,  foreign  and 
domestic ;  that  I  will  bear  true  faith  and  allegiance  to 
the  same  ;  that  I  take  this  obligation  freely,  without  any 
mental  reservation  or  purpose  of  evasion;  and  that  I  will 
well  and  faithfully  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  on 
which  I  am  about  to  enter.  So  help  me  God ! "  From 
1869  up  to  1880  Mr.  Bayard's  course  in  the  Senate  has 
made  him  conspicuously  a  supporter  and  defender  of  the 
Constitution  against  its  domestic  enemies,  the  only  ene 
mies  that  have  seriously  tried  to  overturn  it.  He  has 


48  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

never  missed  dealing  a  blow  in  that  cause,  nor  has  he 
ever  had  time  to  take  off  his  armor  and  rest.  For  eleven 
years  the  battle  has  raged  incessantly,  and  he  has  been 
ever  in  its  front. 

No  Senator  has  better  or  more  faithfully  discharged 
the  onerous  duties  of  this  office,  complicated  and  multi 
farious  as  they  are.  A  Senator's  duties  are  to  his  country, 
to  his  State,  to  his  constituents  as  individuals,  to  the  legis 
lative  body  itself  of  which  he  is  a  member,  to  the  party 
whose  political  doctrines  he  upholds.  The  proper  dis 
charge  of  all  these  particular  and  constantly  recurring 
obligations,  many  of  which  rest  upon  the  man  more  than 
upon  the  statesman,  is  very  fatiguing  work.  A  great 
many  Senators  are  disposed  to  break  the  weight  of  the 
burden  by  doing  some  of  these  duties  either  vicariously 
or  in  a  very  perfunctory  way. 

Some  give  but  little  time,  attention,  or  labor  to  com 
mittee  work  ;  some  take  no  part  nor  lot  in  debate  ;  some 
conduct  their  correspondence,  get  up  their  statistics,  and 
prepare  their  speeches  by  the  hands  of  "  private  secreta 
ries  " ;  while  others  again,  restricting  themselves  to  sena 
torial  work,  are  never  to  be  found  upon  the  hustings,  nor 
showing  any  interest  in  public  or  party  affairs.  But  this 
has  not  been  Mr.  Bayard's  way  of  taking  his  duties.  One 
of  the  most  accessible  of  senators,  he  is  one  of  the  most 
laborious  also,  plodding  away  at  routine  committee  work, 
like  a  department  clerk,  even  in  the  moment  of  prepara 
tion  of  his  most  elaborate  speeches.  He  is  always  at  his 
committee  table  when  needed  there,  always  in  his  seat  in 
the  Senate  when  needed  there.  It  is  rarely  that  he  misses 
a  vote  on  any  material  question.  It  used  to  be  said  of  a 
distinguished  Senator,  now  deceased,  that  he  always  chose 
a  desk  near  the  door,  in  order  to  get  away  quickly  when 


OUTLINE   OF   MR.   BAYARD'S  POLITICAL  SERVICES.       49 

lie  wished  to  "  dodge  an  issue."  Mr.  Bayard  has  not  ac 
quired  nor  desired  to  become  expert  in  the  art  of  dodging 
issues.  His  votes  are  as  frank  as  his  character,  and  rep 
resent  the  steadfast  consciousness  of  his  mind  that  he 
does  not  hold  any  opinions  which  he  fears  to  express,  or 
thinks  it  expedient  to  conceal  or  politic  to  cloak  or  veil, 
lie  takes  a  liberal  part  in  all  leading  debates  and  dis 
cussions,  while  not  so  often  making  set  and  elabonrte 
speeches.  He  is  a  thoroughly  business  Senator,  yet  no 
man  in  the  Chamber  has  introduced  fewer  bills  for  the 
sake  of  appearing  to  originate  measures. 

Soon  after  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  Mr. 
I»ayard  began  to  serve  as  one  of  the  Committee  of  Fi 
nance,  his  name  being  at  the  foot  of  the  list,  as  it  now  is 
at  the  head.  His  colleagues  in  this  committee  were  Sher 
man,  the  chairman  who  succeeded  Fessenden,  Williams, 
Cattell,  Morrill  of  Vermont,  Warner,  and  Fenton.  The 
lowest  place  was  also  given  him  on  the  Committee  on 
Private  Land  Claims,  a  hard-worked  committee,  of  which 
Williams  was  chairman,  and  on  the  committee  likewise 
on  the  Revision  of  the  Laws,  when  his  colleagues  were 
Conkling,  Sunnier,  Carpenter,  and  Pool.  When  the 
first  Ku-Klux  Investigating  Committee  was  appointed  in 
1871,  and  North  Carolina  was  the  theatre  of  inquisition, 
Mr.  Bayard  represented  the  minority.  He  also  served 
in  the  searching  inquests  made  in  South  Carolina,  Florida, 
and  Georgia,  and  he  resolutely  fought  the  first  "  Force 
Bill "  (which  grew  out  of  that  investigation)  at  the  head 
of  the  gallant  band  of  Senators  who  deserve  so  well  of 
their  country  for  their  struggles  in  that  emergency. 
When  the  second  Force  Bill  was  attempted  to  be  put 
through  in  1875,  with  its  dire  accompaniments  of  the 
suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus,  Mr.  Bayard  was  assigned 


50  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

to  the  same  part  in  the  Senate  as  that  given  to  Mr.  Sam 
uel  J.  Randall  in  the  House,  and  the  final  victory  in  that 
grim  struggle  of  the  party  of  law  against  the  party  of 
force  is  due  in  a  very  great  measure  to  Mr.  Bayard's  tact, 
endurance,  and  dexterous  qualities  of  leadership. 

One  of  the  best  pieces  of  work  ever  done  by  Mr. 
Bayard  was  his  service  to  the  commerce  and  the  revenue 
system  of  the  country  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  Com 
mittee  on  Investigation  and  Retrenchment,  which  looked 
into  the  affairs  of  the  New  York  Custom-IIouse,  and  ex 
posed  the  abuses  of  the  general-order  system.  This  com 
mittee,  which  was  appointed  December  18, 1871,  had  Sen 
ator  Buckingham,  of  Connecticut,  for  its  chairman.  There 
were  but  two  Democrats  upon  it — Messrs.  Bayard  and 
Casserly — and  their  efforts  to  get  at  the  facts  were  contin 
ually  thwarted  by  White-House  influences  ;  by  the  adroit, 
unscrupulous  tactics  of  Senator  Conkling,  who  constitu 
ted  himself  counsel  for  the  abuses  and  their  perpetrators  ; 
and  by  the  whole  secret  power  of  the  New  York  Custom- 
IIouse  and  the  detective  service  of  the  Treasury,  all  of 
which  Conkling  wielded  in  his  efforts  to  screen  his  "  hench 
men."  So  complete  were  the  exposures  made  by  Mr. 
Bayard  and  Mr.  Casserly,  however,  even  in  the  face  of 
all  these  odds,  that  not  only  were  Leet  and  Stocking,  the 
general-order  monopolists,  appointed  by  Grant,  removed, 
and  the  general-order  system  abandoned,  but  the  whole 
atrocious  "  moiety  "  system  fell  with  it,  the  Custom-IIouse 
was  purified  by  the  expulsion  of  Murphy,  and  the  New 
York  merchants  wrere  afforded  an  almost  inexpressible 
relief  in  the  pursuit  of  their  business.*  The  trenchant 

*  An  elaborate  report  by  Mr.  Bayard  testifies  the  ability  and  vigor  of 
his  and  Mr.  Casserly's  efforts  to  emancipate  the  merchants  of  New  York 
from  a  reign  of  terror  by  special  agents. 


OUTLINE   OF  MR.    BAYARD'S  POLITICAL   SERVICES.       51 

blows  dealt  by  Mr.  Bayard  at  the  corruptions  and  abuses 
he  was  thus  mainly  instrumental  in  exposing  went  a  great 
way  toward  fostering  the  Liberal  Republican  revolt 
against  Grantism  which  culminated  in  the  Cincinnati 
Convention  of  1872. 

Another  admirable  party  performance  of  Mr.  Bayard's, 
with  national  ends  in  view,  was  his  service  upon  the  com 
mittee  appointed  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  Mississippi, 
previous  to  the  election  of  1876.  This  committee,  of 
which  the  self-sufficient  ex-Secretary  Boutwell,  the  Sena 
tor  from  Massachusetts,  was  chairman,  and  James  Red- 
path,  the  peripatetic  showman,  reformer,  and  newspaper 
correspondent,  was  clerk,  proposed  to  do  a  great  piece  of 
work  for  the  Republican  party.  The  "managers"  of 
that  party  knew  that  the  election  of  1876  would  be  very 
close — close  enough  to  make  the  exclusion  of  the  eight 
electoral  votes  of  Mississippi  very  important  to  them. 
Senator  Morton  accordingly  moved  for  a  committee  of  in 
vestigation  into  the  conduct  of  the  election  of  1875  in  that 
State.  The  resolution,  after  amendments  by  Mr.  Chris- 
tiancy  had  been  accepted,  was  adopted  in  March,  1876, 
and  the  committee  began  work  in  April,  the  Republicans 
being  represented  by  Messrs.  Boutwell,  Cameron,  of  Wis 
consin,  and  McMillan,  while  Messrs.  Bayard  and  Mc 
Donald  were  the  Democrats.  The  minority  report  of 
this  committee,  made  in  August,  1876,  was  so  conclusive 
that  the  Republicans  were  forced  to  abandon  their  nefari 
ous  design  and  permit  the  vote  of  Mississippi  to  be  taken. 
This  report  is  one  of  the  best  state  papers  which  has  ever 
emanated  from  the  Senate,  and  the  results  of  the  inex 
pugnable  stand  taken  by  Messrs.  Bayard  and  McDonald 
on  this  issue  were  momentous.  The  Republicans,  find 
ing  they  could  not  elect  their  candidate  by  fair  means. 


52  LIFE  OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

determined  to  secure  his  being  seated  by  foul  means. 
Senator  Morton  went  to  the  Pacific  and,  in  connection 
with  Gorham,  "  secured  "  the  electoral  vote  of  California 
and  Oregon.  When  even  these,  it  was  found,  would  not 
be  sufficient  to  serve  them,  the  Returning  Board  con 
trivance  and  the  Visiting  Statesmen  comedy  in  the  South 
ern  States  were  brought  into  play,  a  manufactured  ma 
jority  of  one  was  made  ready  against  the  meeting  of  Con 
gress,  and  the  country  was  notified  that,  unless  it  gulped 
this  witches'  broth  without  a  grimace,  it  must  prepare  for 
revolution. 

The  Electoral  Commission  naturally  and  regularly 
ensued,  and  of  Mr.  Bayard's  service  upon  this,  as  well 
as  upon  the  other  committees  which  have  been  named, 
fuller  particulars  and  illustrations  will  be  found  fur 
ther  on  in  the  present  volume,  the  object  of  this  chap 
ter  being  to  show,  in  briefest  outline,  the  work  which 
the  Senate  and  his  party  intrusted  to  one  of  the  young 
est  members. 

All  this  work  was  well  done,  thoroughly  done,  done 
cleanly,  and  done  intelligently.  The  consistency  of  Mr. 
Bayard's  political  and  senatorial  career  is  not  simply  the 
result  of  early  associations  and  inherited  principle.  It  is 
a  consistency  such  as  comes  from  ripe  reflection  and  ma 
tured  patience  in  thought,  an  educated,  logical  consistency 
which  defies  antagonism,  because  it  is  fully  conscious  that 
it  fights  in  armor  of  proof  and  with  tempered  weapons. 
He  votes,  speaks,  and  acts  in  every  contingency  as  an 
honest,  loyal  Democrat  should,  but  he  is  a  Democrat 
quite  as  much  by  force  of  the  intellect  as  by  persuasion 
of  the  heart.  lie  holds  his  principles  and  directs  his  ac 
tions  under  the  guidance  of  right  reason,  and  he  is  the 
one  man  in  the  country  bound  to  be  right  in  his  own 


OUTLINE  OF  MR.   BAYARD'S  POLITICAL  SERVICES.       53 

mind,  whether  his  party  be  right  or  wrong.  Unlike  Mr. 
Boutwell,  who  proclaimed  that  political  economy  varied 
according  to  degrees  of  longitude,  Mr.  Bayard  is  a  man 
whose  principles  are  cosmopolitan  and  universal.  He  is 
not  a  better  Democrat  in  Delaware  than  he  would  be  in 
Vermont,  nor  a  better  revenue  reformer  in  Delaware  than 
he  would  be  in  Pennsylvania,  nor  a  better  bullionist  in 
Delaware  than  he  would  be  in  Indiana  or  Iowa,  in  Maine 
or  in  Kansas. 

Hence  the  superior  consideration .  wh-icli-  Mr.  Bayard 
receives  in  thoughtful,  non-partisan  quarters,  over  and 
above  the  great  majority  of  his  associates  in  the  Senate. 
These  may  be  his  equals  and  co-mates  in  appositeness 
and  force  of  argument,  but,  when  they  speak,  people 
are  prone  to  ask,  "  What  is  the  motive,  or  the  induce 
ment  ? "  while,  if  Bayard  speaks,  they  ask,  "  What  is 
it  that  has  convinced  him?"  It  was  this  which  always 
made  Mr.  Bayard  more  than  a  match  for  the  late  Mr. 
Morton,  in  spite  of  the  acumen  and  logical  force  of  the 
latter's  arguments,  and  the  terse  vigor  with  which  he 
put  them. 

Mr.  Bayard's  speeches  are  not  ornate ;  they  are  not 
elaborated  with  great  care,  but  they  contain  broad  views 
upon  large  subjects,  presented  plainly  and  honestly,  and 
they  always  carry  conviction  with  them  in  every  quarter, 
if  not  of  the  speaker's  correctness,  at  least  of  his  sincerity. 
These  speeches  deal  with  momentous  subjects  in  a  com 
petent  and  statesmanlike  manner.  They  review  pretty 
much  all  the  history  which  the  United  States  have  been 
making  during  the  past  ten  years,  and  the  principles  em 
bodied  in  them  will  outlast  the  events  in  connection  with 
which  they  were  enunciated.  More  will  be  said  of  these 
speeches,  and  some  quotations  be  made  from  them,  fur- 


54  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ther  on  in  this  memoir,  but  a  word  or  two  in  this  place 
in  regard  to  their  range  and  scope,  and  the  influence  they 
have  exerted,  will  not  be  amiss. 

Mr.  Bayard,  when  he  first  came  into  the  Senate,  took 
ground  against  the  public  credit  bill  (the  earliest  measure 
of  President  Grant's  administration),  because  it  did  not 
go  far  enough,  and  assure  the  country  also  of  a  speedy 
return  to  specie  payments.  From  his  position  Mr.  Bay 
ard  has  never  swerved.  Others  have  trimmed,  shuffled, 
dodged,  contented  themselves  with  the  half  loaf  as  being 
better  than  no  bread,  but  always  Mr.  Bayard  has  shown 
himself  to  be  the  Abdiel  of  currency  reform.  ~No  matter 
whether  we  see  him  opposing  Schenck's  Public  Credit  act 
of  1869  because  it  did  not  go  far  enough,  or  Sherman's 
Funding  bill  of  1870  and  the  Eesumption  bill  of  1875,  for 
the  same  reasons ;  or  combating  Senator  Merrimon's  in 
flation  plan;  or  writing  to  Southern  newspapers,  and 
visiting  Southern  assemblages,  to  awaken  those  consti 
tuencies  to  their  duties ;  or  objecting  to  the  ambiguous 
clauses  of  the  St.  Louis  platform ;  or  making  war  upon 
the  proposition  to  pay  the  debt  in  silver ;  or  proposing, 
in  the  face  of  a  timid  Senate,  to  make  resumption  per 
manent  by  making  it  actual — in  every  case,  not  as  a 
party  man,  not  as  a  believer  in  expediency,  riot  for 
his  own  personal  advancement  or  glorification,  but  be 
cause  he  recognizes  it  to  be  right  and  necessary,  and 
the  duty  of  the  republic — Mr.  Bayard  has  spoken,  voted, 
and  acted  for  the  restoration  of  the  currency  and  the 
finances  of  the  country  to  a  hard-money  basis.  He  has 
been  as  brave  on  this  point  as  the  greater  part  of  his 
Democratic  fellows  have  been  vacillating  and  timid.  He 
has  been  as  straightforward  and  consistent  on  the  whole 
currency  issue  throughout  as  Morton  and  Sherman  were 


OUTLINE   OF  MR.   BAYARD'S  POLITICAL  SERVICES.       55 

throughout  insincere,  inconsistent,  and  changeable.  His 
speeches  on  currency  and  banking  have  been  valuable 
and  substantial  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  sub 
ject,  while  his  votes  have  been  those  of  a  genuine  states 
man  incapable  of  yielding  to  any  suggestion  of  tempo 
rary  expediency. 

Next  in  importance  to  what  Mr.  Bayard  has  said  and 
done  in  matters  of  finance  are  his  speeches  upon  the  grave 
constitutional  questions  growing  out  of  the  post-bellum 
amendments,  the  Reconstruction  policy,  and  the  Enforce 
ment  acts  and  new  election  laws  established  and  attempt 
ed  to  be  established  during  the  malign  ascendancy  of  the 
Republican  party.  In  the  elaborate  discussion  of  these 
great  questions  during  the  last  ten  years,  Mr.  Bayard 
has  labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  reopening  themes 
already  thoroughly  treated  by  the  master  minds  of  the 
republic,  and  in  the  immediate  controversy  upon  which 
he  was  equally  embarrassed  by  towering  associates  and 
astute  and  skillful  antagonists.  What  chance  had  one  of 
the  youngest  senators  in  the  lot  in  a  question  of  the 
limitation  of  powers  of  the  Federal  Executive,  or  of  the 
powers  of  the  States  under  the  Constitution,  when  he 
knew  that  this  or  that  point  had  already  been  treated  in  the 
"  Federalist "  by  Hamilton  or  Madison,  had  already  been 
argued  in  the  Senate  by  Webster,  or  Calhoun,  or  Benton, 
and,  when  it  came  up  anew,  would  be  seized  upon  by 
Tlmrman,  Stockton,  Casserly,  on  his  side,  and  assailed,  on 
the  other,  by  all  the  force  of  Trumbull,  Edmunds,  Mor 
ton,  Conkling,  and  Carpenter  ?  Yet  Mr.  Bayard's  stand 
ing  as  a  constitutional  lawyer  is  unsurpassed  in  the  Senate, 
and  his  arguments  in  the  Mississippi  case,  his  half  dozen 
speeches  about  Louisiana,  his  speeches  on  the  Force  bills 
and  the  Congressional  Election  laws,  are  recognized  as 


56  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

among  the  best  expositions  which  we  have.  As  supple 
mentary  to  these,  in  exactly  defining  the  limits  of  the  Con 
stitution,  his  minor  speeches  on  the  question  of  colored 
children  in  the  schools,  on  the  Centennial  Exposition,  on 
rivers  and  harbors,  and  the  liquor  traffic  commission,  are 
especially  noteworthy. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

LEADING    QUESTIONS. — MR.    BAYARD^S   VIEWS. 

THOMAS  FKANCIS  BAYARD  is  a  party  man  because,  in 
his  view,  parties  mean  something.  He  does  not  belong 
to  that  "  Shifty  Dick  "  school  of  politicians  who  have 
grown  up  so  rapidly  since  the  war,  and  who  hold  that 
party  is  merely  an  agglomeration  of  individuals  having  a 
concerted  purpose  to  put  some  other  people  out  of  office 
and  put  themselves  in.  On  the  contrary,  the  Senator 
believes  that  the  doctrine  of  "  principles,  not  men,"  means 
that  principles  are  to  be  preferred  to  popularity,  and  that 
a  man's  fealty  to  party  is  due  to  the  principles  actuating 
it,  and  not  to  the  leaders  who  direct  it  or  the  mass  who 
are  directed.  There  is  no  factious  spirit  of  rude  inde 
pendence  in  this,  but  only  a  deep  conscientiousness.  "  If 
my  party  departs  from  its  principles,"  said  Mr.  Bayard, 
in  a  recent  conversation,  "  it  is  no  longer  my  party,  but 
something  else.  It  has  gone  away  from  me,  not  I  from 
it.  I  may  follow  it,  if  I  choose.  I  may  join  the  oppo 
site  ranks,  if  I  choose,  or,  if  I  can  approve  neither,  I  am 
still  not  bound  to  make  any  sacrifices  of  conscience,  for 
/  can  take  my  hat  and  go  home" 

The  expression  is  highly  characteristic  of  the  man. 
He  will  not  be  tied  to  any  course  of  action  of  which  his 
intellect  and  conscience  do  not  approve,  out  of  com 
plaisance  to  the  terrible  "consequences."  The  conse- 


58  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

quenccs  have  no  great  weight  with  him,  since,  unlike  the 
greater  part  of  the  politicians  around  him,  he  always  has 
the  alternative  of  taking  his  hat  and  going  home.  Such 
a  man  can  not  be  coerced  nor  "  bulldozed,"  as  Mr.  Bayard 
easily  proved  when  the  attempt  was  made  to  do  so  at  the 
last  extra  session  of  Congress.  He  proved  it  when,  at 
the  Baltimore  Democratic  Convention  in  1872,  he  re 
fused,  and  led  the  Delaware  delegates  to  refuse,  to  endorse 
the  nomination  of  Horace  Greeley,  already  the  Liberal 
Republican  nominee  at  Cincinnati.  Mr.  Bayard  sup 
ported  Mr.  Greeley  in  the  end,  and  spoke  in  favor  of  his 
election ;  but  he  would  not  recognize  him  as  being  the 
Democratic  candidate,  and  he  did  perfectly  right  not  to 
do  so.  In  his  speech  in  that  campaign,  delivered  at  In 
stitute  Hall,  Wilmington,  Del.,  October  4,  1872,  Mr. 
Bayard  said,  emphatically  :  "  I  went  to  Baltimore,  as  you 
know,  to  represent  in  part  the  people  of  this  State.  I 
went  there  opposed  to  Mr.  Greeley 's  nomination.  No 
matter  what  was  my  cause  for  it ;  you  may  call  it  my 
prejudices,  or  my  judgment.  I  went  there  believing  it 
was  our  duty  and  our  right  to  have  a  Democrat  nomi 
nated  who  should  represent  us,  and  we  should  vote  for 
him  upon  our  own  platform  worded  in  our  own  way.  I 
reached  Baltimore  to  find  myself  one  of  the  smallest 
minority  that  ever  assembled  in  a  convention.  I  have 
nothing  now  to  say  of  the  scenes  there,  only  that  I  did 
my  duty  as  I  believed  I  ought  to  do  it,  and  as  I  believed 
you  desired  it  should  be  done." 

He  proved  this  same  sort  of  independence  in  his  manly 
speech  on  the  bill  for  counting  the  electoral  vote,  deliv 
ered  January  24,  1877,  in  which  he  said:  "Mr.  Presi 
dent,  in  the  course  of  my  duty  here  as  a  representative 
of  the  rights  of  others,  as  a  chosen  and  sworn  public  ser- 


LEADING  QUESTIONS.— MR.   BAYARD'S  VIEWS.  59 

vant,  I  feel  that  I  have  no  right  to  give  my  individual 
wishes,  prejudices,  interests,  undue  influence  over  my 
public  action.  To  do  so  would  be  to  commit  a  breach 
of  trust  in  the  powers  confided  to  me.  It  is  true  I  was 
chosen  a  senator  by  a  majority  only,  but  not  for  a  major 
ity  only.  I  was  chosen  ~by  a  party,  but  not  for  a  party. 
I  represent  all  the  good  people  of  the  State  which  has 
sent  me  here.  In  my  office  as  a  senator  I  recognize  no 
claim  upon  my  action  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of 
party.  The  oath  I  have  taken  is  to  support  the  Consti 
tution  of  my  country's  government,  not  the  fiat  of  any 
political  organization  even  could  its  will  be  ascertained. 
In  sessions  preceding  the  present  I  have  adverted  to  the 
difficulty  attending  the  settlement  of  this  great  question, 
and  have  urgently  besought  action  in  advance  at  a  time 
when  the  measure  adopted  could  not  serve  to  predicate 
its  results  to  either  party.  My  failure  then  gave  me  great 
uneasiness,  and  filled  me  with  anxiety  ;  and  yet  I  can  now 
comprehend  the  wisdom  concealed  in  my  disappointment, 
for  in  the  very  emergency  of  this  hour,  in  the  shadow  of 
the  danger  that  has  drawn  so  nigh  to  us,  has  been  begot 
ten  in  the  hearts  of  American  senators  and  representa 
tives  and  the  American  people  a  spirit  worthy  of  the  oc 
casion — born  to  meet  these  difficulties,  to  cope  with  them, 
and,  God  willing,  to  conquer  them" 

But  the  most  signal  instances  which  we  have  of  Mr.  Bay 
ard's  non-partisan  character,  and  of  his  determination  not  to 
be  governed  by  any  rules  of  expediency,  nor  to  admit  that 
there  can  be  any  rules  of  conduct,  even  for  senators,  higher 
or  more  supreme  than  the  dictates  of  a  man's  own  con 
science,  are  to  be  found  in  two  of  his  most  recent  speeches, 
that  upon  the  bill  to  repeal  test  oaths  for  jurors,  made  June 
5,  1879,  at  the  extra  session  of  Congress,  and  that  upon 


60  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

the  resolution  withdrawing  from  United  States  notes  their 
legal-tender  power,  made  January  27,  1880.  This  latter 
resolution,  which  the  Senate  Finance  Committee  finally 
declined  to  report,  was  Mr.  Bayard's  pet  measure,  con 
verting,  as  it  would  have  converted,  Mr.  Sherman's  fiction 
of  resumption  into  a  fact,  and  an  abiding  and  perpetual 
one.  Mr.  Bayard  said  that  he  was  not  a  believer  in 
"  Congressional  alchemy,"  and  he  wanted  to  see  any  fur 
ther  attempts  in  that  direction  abandoned.  "  Whether 
the  Senate  will  concur  in  my  views  I  know  not,"  he  said, 
"  for  a  subject  like  this  has  never  been  and  never  will  be 
made  by  me  a  subject  of  party  caucus,  or  personal  canvass 
for  votes."  In  the  course  of  this  speech,  referring  to  the 
position  of  Democratic  senators,  and  the  contrast  between 
their  immediate  action  and  the  ancient  traditions  of  the 
party,  Mr.  Bayard  said  that  he  could  safely  take  the  de 
clarations  of  party  faith  and  principles — of  every  national, 
of  every  State,  of  every  county  convention  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  from  the  foundation  of  the  Government  down 
to  the  present  year,  and  find  nothing  in  them  but  the 
denunciation  of  paper  money,  and  "  the  steady  declaration 
from  generation  to  generation,  in  war  and  in  peace,  that 
gold  and  silver  coins  are  the  only  true  and  constitutional 
money  of  the  United  States — according  to  the  doctrines 
of  true  democracy"  Mr.  Bayard  added,  with  his  usual 
frankness,  making  sure  of  the  vote  of  Mr.  George  H.  Pen- 
dleton  in  antagonism  to  this  resolution  which,  if  it  were 
to  pass  the  Senate  at  the  present  session  of  Congress, 
would  give  Mr.  Bayard  the  position  of  the  leading  advo 
cate  of  hard  money  in  the  United  States  :  "  In  consider 
ing  so  grave  and  all-important  a  principle  as  lies  at  the 
root  of  this  discussion,  I  shall  not  turn  aside  to  impale 
individuals  upon  their  inconsistencies ;  such  occupation 


LEADING   QUESTIONS.— MR.   BAYARD'S  VIEWS.  Gl 

would  be  trivial  and  unworthy — but  when  this  legal-tender 
power  eighteen  years  ago  was  sought  for  the  first  time  in 
our  history  to  be  exercised  by  Congress,  there  was  not  to 
be  found  a  Democrat  in  either  House  who  did  not  deny 
it.  Look  to  the  record,  see  how  they  voted — how  they 
spoke.  I  am  half  tempted  to  recite  here  the  fervent  and 
true  eloquence  with  which  some,  even  now  members  of 
this  Senate,  denounced  the  assertion  of  so  disastrous  a 
power.  But  their  action  has  passed  into  history,  and  can 
be  revised  by  those  who  desire  it.  I  can  only  say  that, 
if  I  sought  for  texts  peculiarly  condemnatory  of  such  a 
power  as  I  now  seek  to  withdraw  from  the  paper  issues 
of  the  Government,  I  could  find  them  abundantly  in 
the  speeches  and  writings  of  the  most  distinguished, 
trusted,  and  authoritative  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party. 
I  am  content  to  follow  in  their  footsteps,  and  here  to 
day  to  plant  myself  more  firmly  in  their  principles,  which 
time  has  proven  to  be  founded  upon  truth  and  justice. 
And  intending  no  impeachment  of  others,  I  must  say 
that  I  am  unable  to  comprehend  the  logic  and  reason 
ing  which,  admitting  such  a  law  to  be  in  violation  of 
the  Constitution,  yet  justifies  a  vote  to  perpetuate  its 
presence  on  the  statute-book.  I  confess  I  am  unable  so 
to  construe  the  obligation  I  have  taken  to  support  and  de 
fend  that  Constitution,  and  bear  true  faith  and  allegiance 
to  the  same."  No  partisan,  no  mere  politician,  none  but 
a  firm  lover  of  the  truth,  and  possessed  of  the  highest  moral 
courage,  ever  spoke  thus. 

It  was  said  at  the  time,  and  has  been  repeated  since,  that, 
when  Mr.  Bayard  opposed  the  defeat  of  the  appropriation 
bills  at  the  extra  session  of  Congress  last  summer,  he  sacri 
ficed  his  prospects  of  a  nomination  by  the  Democratic 
party  as  their  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  Those  who 


62  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.    BAYARD. 

think  well  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  have  faith  in  its 
destinies  and  the  ultimate  success  of  its  principles,  do  not 
believe  any  such  thing.  But  even  if  it  had  been  the 
naked,  literal  fact,  Mr.  Bayard  would  have  spoken  and 
voted  as  he  did  all  the  same.  He  is  a  statesman,  who, 
like  Henry  Clay,  would  rather  be  right  than  be  President ; 
nor  does  he  think  it  necessary  to  pose  and  assume  a  look  of 
resignation  in  announcing  the  fact.  In  truth,  he  does  not 
announce  it  at  all,  but  simply  does  his  duty  as  he  feels 
himself  bound,  leaving  the  action  to  speak  for  itself. 

In  this  case  it  must  have  been  very  distasteful  to  Mr. 
Bayard,  an  extremely  disagreeable  duty,  to  prefer  another 
course  of  conduct  in  regard  to  this  bill  to  that  adopted  by 
the  majority  of  his  political  associates  in  both  houses. 
Not  only  had  the  caucus  sentiment  been  openly  mani 
fested,  but  Mr.  Bayard's  sympathies  were  strongly  exer 
cised  in  favor  of  the  measures  in  question.  In  his  own 
words,  he  held  "  that  the  whole  course  of  reformation 
which  these  measures  illustrate  is  the  sober  second  thought 
of  the  American  people."  He  held  then,  as  he  holds 
now,  that  the  repeal  of  these  obnoxious  and  partisan 
statutes,  these  invidious  test  oaths,  this  system  of  federal 
supervision  of  elections,  this  compulsory  attendance  of 
the  military  at  the  polls,  was  a  proper  issue  upon  which  to 
go  before  the  people  at  the  presidential  election,  an  issue 
which  would  command  the  support  of  a  large  majority  of 
the  voters.  He  believed  that  the  repeals  sought  to  be 
obtained  were  measures  of  the  greatest  importance.  As 
he  said  in  this  speech  of  June  5,  1879,  on  the  juror's  test- 
oath  question :  "  They  touch  the  question  of  personal 
liberty  of  the  citizen ;  they  touch  questions  of  constitu 
tional  rights,  the  dearest  and  the  closest  to  liberty-loving 
men."  Nor  did  he  approve  of  the  course  of  the  Presi- 


LEADING  QUESTIONS.— MR.   BAYARD'S  VIKWS.  63 

dent  in  vetoing  these  bills  upon  the  mere  technicality  of 
form,  and  without  taking  any  notice  of  their  subject- 
matter.  He  was,  as  he  said,  opposed  to  the  policy  of  "  in 
grafting  matters  of  general  legislation  upon  appropriation 
bills,"  had  frequently  protested  against  it,  and  had  often 
but  vainly  endeavored  "  to  procure  from  the  Republican 
majority  that  overwhelmed  us  here  a  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  such  methods  of  legislation  were  irregular  and 
vicious."  But  it  was  too  late  to  object  to  such  things  in 
Congress,  and  especially  too  late  for  Republicans  to  ob 
ject.  "  I  may  say,"  said  Mr.  Bayard,  "  that  there  are  no 
more  important  measures  of  general  legislation  now  stand 
ing  on  the  statute-book  of  this  country  than  those  which 
have  been  placed  there  by  the  vehicles  of  general  appro 
priation  bills,  and  that  no  such  thing  ever  occurred  until 
now  in  American  history  that  the  method  of  parliamen 
tary  proceeding  was  made  a  cause  for  presidential  criti 
cism  and  rejection."  The  "  misjoinder  "  of  general  legis 
lation  and  appropriations  was  not  objectionable  on  con 
stitutional  grounds,  but,  because  leading  to  confusion,  un 
certainty,  and  embarrassment.  As  to  this  particular  meas 
ure  of  repeal,  Mr.  Bayard  expressed  his  opinion  of  the 
need  for  it  in  a  strain  of  earnest  and  fervent  eloquence. 
It  was  called  for  in  justice  and  in.  equity,  by  the  nature 
of  our  institutions,  by  the  validity  of  our  faith  in  our 
common  manhood,  by  our  belief  in  the  principle  of  trial 
by  jury  and  our  respect  for  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of 
the  Constitution.  Yet,  being  such,  the  President  had 
vetoed  the  bill,  and  there  were  not  two  thirds  of  the  mem 
bers  of  Congress  willing  to  pass  the  bill  in  the  face  of  his 
objection.  What  then  ?  The  veto  power  of  the  Presi 
dent  was  his  own.  He  was  an  independent  branch  of  the 
government,  and  it  did  not  become  Democrats  to  attempt 


6-i  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.    BAYARD. 

to  coerce  President  Hayes  as  tlie  Republicans  had  done 
by  President  Johnson.  The  President  was  responsible 
for  the  exercise  of  the  veto  power  not  to  Congress,  but  to 
the  people  of  the  country.  In  Mr.  Bayard's  words : 
"  He  is  responsible  to  the  House  of  Representatives  for 
any  malfeasance  in  his  office ;  and  to  them  is  given  the 
power  to  impeach  him,  and  the  Senate,  upon  trial,  to  re 
move  him,  should  they  consider  that  his  acts  have  brought 
him  within  the  constitutional  prohibition  ;  but  I  am  very 
clear  that  the  checks  and  balances  created  by  our  Consti 
tution  do  prohibit,  and  are  meant  to  prohibit,  any  invasion 
of  his  just  prerogatives ;  and  no  exigency,  no  sense  of 
the  abstract  injustice  or  unwisdom  of  his  action,  should 
control  me  in  approving  or  urging  any  course  of  irregu 
larity  in  order  to  overcome  what  I  believe  to  be  the  errors 
or  the  faults  of  his  administration.  Equally  unworthy 
and  unwarranted  would  be  any  attempt  at  coercion  of  the 
Executive  by  Congress ;  and  such  suggestions  are  only 
weak  and  idle." 

After  denying  that  the  President  had  any  right  or 
justification  in  assuming  that  he  was  the  object  of  coer 
cion,  and  in  impeaching  the  motives  and  conduct  of  Con 
gress,  Mr.  Bayard  added  :  "  Sir,  the  only  coercion  I  would 
apply  is  that  of  a  quickened  conscience,  based  upon  a 
comprehension  of  the  real  duties  of  the  great  office  he 
holds,  the  coercion  of  public  opinion  demanding  great 
motives  from  men  in  high  places.  It  is  the  coercion  of 
his  oath  to  obey  the  Constitution,  and  not  the  behests  of 
party  or  the  commands  of  those  who  have  never  hereto 
fore  treated  him  with  even  ordinary  respect." 

Mr.  Bayard  then  went  on  to  say  that  he  held  the  in 
vasion  of  one  department  of  the  government  by  another 
to  be  utterly  unwarranted,  dangerous,  and  to  be  strictly 


LEADING   QUESTIONS.— MR.   BAYARD'S  VIEWS.  65 

guarded  against.  Differences  must  be  met  in  a  spirit  of 
comity  and  mutual  accommodation,  not  in  a  spirit  of  ob 
struction.  "I  hold,"  said  he,  "that  no  spirit  but  that 
of  high  public  duty  should  actuate  any  man  possessed  of 
public  power ;  that  personal  exasperation,  official  bicker 
ing,  partisan  revenges  and  manoeuvres  have  no  just  place 
in  the  execution  of  the  trust  of  public  power,  wherever  it 
may  be  placed."  Mr.  Hayes,  it  was  quite  apparently  Mr. 
Bayard's  opinion,  could  not  criticise  Congress  with  a  good 
grace.  The  fact  that  there  was  such  a  wide  difference  in 
political  sentiment  between  him  and  Congress  gave  him 
no  right  to  speak,  but  rather  would  admonish  any  modest 
man  in  his  position  to  hold  his  tongue.  "  We  know," 
said  Mr.  Bayard,  "  at  least  those  who  compose  the  major 
ity  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  do  know,  and  we  do 
believe,  that  the  sentiment  which  caused  the  election  of  a 
Democratic  majority  of  the  present  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  also  elected  a  Democratic  President. 
Right  down  in  the  heart  of  every  man  composing  the 
majority  in  either  branch  of  Congress  lies  the  solemn  be 
lief  that  would  induce  him  to  walk  readily  to  that  desk, 
and  with  uplifted  hand,  or  his  hand  upon  the  Holy  Book, 
swear  that  he  believes  that  the  individual  who  now  holds 
the  executive  office  was  not  elected  to  it  by  the  votes  of 
the  American  people,  but  that  he  holds  an  office  justly 
belonging  to  another. 

"  I  have  nothing  to  say  in  referring  to  the  history  of  the 
events  of  1877,  when,  having  a  single  eye  to  the  welfare 
of  the  American  people,  believing  in  the  necessity  for  the 
existence  and  support  of  a  government  of  laws,  believing 
that  it  was  better,  rather  than  that  strife  and  confusion 
should  throw  this  government  into  the  hands  of  the  body 
of  men  who  stood  only  too  ready  to  clutch  it  by  the  throat 


66  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

and  put  it  under  the  mailed  hand  of  armed  power — we 
proposed  and  preferred  that  the  forms  of  law  should  be 
created,  should  be  followed,  even  though  the  gravest  dis 
appointment  arose  ;  and  we  believe  that  the  result  was  the 
overthrow  of  the  will  of  the  American  people  expressed 
at  the  polls. 

"  Those  are  the  facts,  and  I  believe  history  will  record 
them  as  beyond  dispute.  Such  was  the  honor  of  those 
who  did  maintain  this  ground  in  a  period  of  profound  ex 
citement,  in  a  period  when  they  were  convinced  of  the 
grossest  injustice,  who  did  believe  that  the  public  opinion 
of  the  American  people  would  in  the  end  be  a  safer  re 
fuge  than  the  rush  to  arms  for  the  purpose  of  vindicating 
a  clear  right.  Upon  that  faith  we  have  rested,  '  that  truth 
was  omnipotent,  and  that  public  justice  was  certain.'  On 
that  we  stood  then  and  on  that  we  stand  now ;  and  upon 
that  great  issue  the  American  people  will  be  called  upon 
at  a  day  not  long  distant  to  decide. 

"  But  these  facts  only  conduce  to  what  ?  They  ren 
der  our  situation  even  more  difficult  and  trying.  The 
Congress  of  the  United  States  have  their  duties.  They 
are  endeavoring  to  execute  them  faithfully  and  well. 
They  are  endeavoring  to  shape  legislation  in  accordance 
with  public  sentiment,  so  that  this  country  shall  be  free, 
and  safe,  and  prosperous,  and  happy,  that  the  Union  shall 
be  perfectly  and  really  restored,  that  the  public  credit 
shall  be  guarded  and  maintained,  that  all  the  functions  of 
this  great  government  shall  be  duly  exercised,  and  pro 
ceed  properly  in  their  execution.  That  is  our  great  wish  ; 
but  if  there  is  in  our  propositions  of  themselves  anything 
wrong,  if  they  are  unwise  instead  of  being  wise,  if  they 
are  unpatriotic  instead  of  being  patriotic,  we  have  the 
opinion  and  conscience  of  the  American  people  to  appeal 


LKADIN'CJ   QUESTIONS.— MR.    BAYARD'S  VIEWS.  G7 

to.  All  that  I  would  ask  is  that  they  may  clearly  com 
prehend  the  issues  which  lie  before  them.  It  is  upon 
their  intelligence,  their  sense  of  virtue,  it  is  upon  their 
capacity  to  comprehend  aright,  and  distinguish  between 
the  just  and  the  unjust,  that  we  form  our  chief  hopes. 

"  But,  sir,  suppose  in  these  efforts  we  meet  obstruction, 
suppose  in  these  efforts  we  meet  the  interposition  of  the 
constitutional  powers  of  the  Executive,  and  he  stands  in 
the  way  and  says,  with  or  without  reason,  '  I  execute  this 
power ;  I  will  taunt  you,  I  will  harass  you,  I  will  en 
deavor  to  inflame  you  and  place  you  in  a  false  position 
before  your  countrymen,'  what  is  your  answer?  That 
that  may  be  his  measure  of  duty;  but,  thank  God,  he 
can  not  impose  the  measure  of  ours.  Our  responsibility 
and  our  sense  of  duty  are  measured  only  by  ourselves, 
only  by  our  own  conscience. 

"  This  government  is  placed,  so  far  as  the  legislative 
power  is  concerned,  in  the  hands  of  the  majorities  com 
posed  of  the  Democratic  members,  and  we  propose  BO  to 
conduct  it  that  the  people  of  the  country  shall  feel  that 
honesty  in  the  first  place  has  marked  every  law,  that  the 
lobby  that  so  long  here  infested  the  corridors  of  the  Cap 
itol  and  controlled  the  legislation  has  been  routed  and  put 
an  end  to,  that  the  treasury  shall  be  protected,  that  every 
branch  of  the  government  shall  be  amply  supplied  and 
maintained  with  vigor,  economy,  and  justice.  This  is  our 
proposition. 

"  Our  first  duty  is  to  continue  this  government.  Our 
first  duty  is  to  supply  everything  needful  for  the  honor 
and  welfare  and  protection  of  this  government  and  all 
of  its  people.  Is  our  measure  of  that  duty  to  be  taught 
us  by  a  hostile,  a  harassing,  and  an  obstructive  executive  ? 
Sir,  our  measure  of  patriotic  duty  is  not  to  be  dictated  by 
4 


68  LIFE  OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

him.  It  is  to  be  measured  by  the  oath  that  we  took  to 
support  this  government.  It  is  to  be  measured  by  our 
own  discretion  as  to  what  the  safety  and  the  welfare  of 
the  government  require  at  our  hands. 

"  Mr.  President,  I  sometimes  fear  that  this  great  com 
plicated  machinery  of  the  civilized  government  of  si  rich 
and  populous  country  is  not  fully  comprehended.  It 
seems  to  me,  when  I  consider  all  the  forms  of  property, 
they  lie  only  in  the  shape  of  accumulated  credits,  where 
once  what  wTe  called  wealth  meant  nothing  but  cattle  or 
arms  or  jewels,  or  the  precious  metals.  The  property  of 
a  civilized  country  is  the  creation  of  its  laws,  and  is  de 
pendent  for  its  existence  on  those  laws.  The  great  body 
of  its  property  is  its  credit  in  all  its  forms,  which  only 
by  the  close  observance  of  law  and  maintenance  of  order 
can  retain  their  force  and  vitality  and  value.  This  coun 
try  is  no  longer  a  mere  collection  of  Indian  villages,  in 
which  peace  and  war  was  a  matter  of  every  day's  chance 
occurrence.  Confusion  in  a  government  like  ours  is 
pregnant  with  the  deepest  danger  and  with  the  greatest 
disaster  and  suffering.  You  can  not  throw  out  of  gear 
for  one  moment  such  complicated  machinery  without  pro 
ducing  almost  irremediable  injury  and  wide-spread  distress. 
Therefore,  the  man  who  idly  talks  about  stopping  supplies 
to  the  government,  or  who  disingenuously  or  dishonestly 
charges  others  with  endeavoring  to  stop  the  supplies  of  the 
government,  either  suggests  a  great  public  crime,  or  he 
makes  false  accusation  of  one  against  his  neighbor.  I 
hold  it  to  be  the  great  mission  of  the  organization  called 
the  Democratic  party  to  maintain  this  government  in  all 
its  parts,  and,  under  the  limitation  of  its  written  charter 
of  powers,  to  protect  it  against  all  enemies,  domestic  as 
well  as  foreign,  to  prevent  confusion  from  rushing  in 


LEADING   QUESTIONS.— MR.    BAYARD'S   VIEWS.  C9 

upon  it  and  disturbing  its  orderly  progress.  I  do  not 
hold  it  to  be  in  the  power  of  any  executive,  unfriendly 
and  unjust  as  he  may  be  to  the  principles  and  the  objects, 
and  to  the  personnel  of  that  organization,  to  lessen  or 
alter  its  measure  of  duty,  or  place  it  in  a  false  position 
before  the  American  people. 

"  If  I  did  not  believe  that  party  was  to  be  trusted  I 
would  not  belong  to  it.  If  I  did  not  believe  that  the 
credit,  the  safety,  the  welfare,  and  honor  of  the  American 
people  were  safe  in  its  hands  I  would  abandon  it.  But 
shall  it  be  that  an  officer  accidentally  vested,  and  vested, 
as  I  have  said,  against  our  belief  o'f  right,  with  the  enor 
mous  powers  which  have  accumulated  and  grown  around 
the  executive  office,  shall  succeed  in  placing  this  great 
party,  with  all  its  patriotic  objects  and  intents,  in  a  po 
sition  of  suspicion  and  doubt  before  their  fellow  country 
men  ?  Ah,  sir,  it  will  require  two  to  make  up  that  issue. 
It  is  a  false,  dishonest,  untruthful,  disingenuous  attempt 
to  slander  his  neighbors.  No,  sir,  this  government  shall 
move  on.  It  shall  be  supplied  regularly  and  fully.  We 
will  put  an  end  to  political  jobbery  wherever  it  appears  ; 
we  will  reform  all  the  wrong  and  injustice  that  are  caused 
by  bad  laws  that  we  may;  we  will  supply  everything 
needful  for  the  strong,  vigorous,  just  exercise  of  every 
constitutional  power  in  every  branch  of  the  public  service, 
and  we  do  not  mean  that  any  obstructive  executive,  any 
unfair  political  opponent,  occupying  power  against  our  be 
lief  of  right,  but  to  which  we  submit  under  the  forms  of 
law,  shall  pervert  the  truth  or  raise  false  issues  between 
us  and  our  countrymen. 

"  Therefore  it  is  that  I  have  said  this  much,  and  it  may 
save  me  the  trouble  of  repeating  it  again.  I  have  said  it 
in  connection  with  a  measure  to  which  the  Executive  has 


70  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

returned  no  objection.  I  can  not  imagine  tliat  there  will 
be  objection  to  it.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there  can 
be  none  manufactured — for  when  there  is  a  will,  a  way 
will  always  be  found  for  anything — I  will  not  say  that 
men's  minds  may  not  be  so  constituted,  or  so  controlled  by 
their  prejudices  and  passions,  that  they  may  not  find  good 
reasons  exactly  in  the  opposite  direction  from  those  I  have 
endeavored  to  state.  But  what  I  ask,  and  all  that  I  ask, 
is  that  the  issues  now  forming  between  the  two  houses 
of  Congress,  as  represented  by  their  dominant  majorities, 
and  the  executive  branch  of  the  government,  may  be 
plainly,  and  clearly,  and  fairly  understood  by  our  fellow 
countrymen,  because,  when  they  are  so  understood  by 
them,  I  am  satisfied  they  will  find  reason  only  for  re 
newed  confidence  and  increased  respect  for  the  party 
whose  motives  have  been  so  unjustly  called  in  question, 
in  regard  to  the  grant  of  supplies  for  the  support  of  our 
government,  and  who  are  honestly  seeking  to  reform 
abuses,  and  redress  the  actual  grievances  of  the  American 
people." 

These  are  instances  of  what  Mr.  Bayard  meant  when 
he  said :  "  If  my  party  departs  from  its  principles,  I  can 
take  my  hat  and  go  home." 

No  man  knows  better  than  Thomas  F.  Bayard  what 
Democratic  principles  are.  No  man  has  studied  them 
more  closely.  No  man  has  more  constantly  waited  for 
conviction  before  he  gave  adhesion  to  these  principles, 
and  consequently  none  can  hold  to  them  with  a  firmer 
faith.  No  man  has  defined  these  principles  and  doctrines 
more  accurately  and  logically,  and  none  has  conformed  to 
them  more  rigidly.  There  is  to-day  no  better  expounder 
of  the  Constitution  and  of  the  teachings  of  the  fathers  in 
relation  to  it  than  Mr.  Bayard.  Plain,  practical,  straight- 


LEADING  QUESTIONS.— MR.    BAYARD'S  VIEWS.  71 

forward,  he  goes  to  the  heart  of  a  matter,  and  gives 
always  the  solid,  substantial  reason  for  his  votes.  These 
reasons  rest  upon  the  foundations  of  common  sense,  upon 
axioms  of  law  and  equity,  upon  the  reasonable  sense  of 
the  Constitution.  Stated,  they  become  the  form  and  sub 
stance  of  Democratic  doctrine,  and  his  speeches  might 
be  taken  for  a  text-book  of  pure  and  unadulterated  De 
mocracy,  not  "  Jefferson ian,"  nor  "  Jacksonian,"  but  con 
stitutional. 

Thus,  in  his  late  speech  *  on  the  bill  for  the  restora 
tion  of  General  Fitz-John  Porter  to  the  army,  as  in  a 
great  many  other  speeches,  Mr.  Bayard  uttered  his  warn 
ing  against  the  danger  of  the  growing  tendency  to  cen 
tralization  of  power. 

"  There  is,"  he  said  "  a  spirit  of  centralization  ;  there 
are  centripetal  forces  at  work  that  in  my  judgment  the 
people  of  this  country  would  be  most  wise  to  check,  and 
it  is  well  that  the  centrifugal  forces  should  be  set  in 
motion,  in  order  that  the  orderly  distribution  of  power 
intended  by  those  who  founded  this  government  should 
once  more  prevail,  because  they  did  intend  that  liberty 
should  be  protected  by  preventing  the  undue  concentra 
tion  of  powers  in  any  one  hand,  or  in  any  one  department 
of  the  government." 

In  the  same  speech  he  called  attention  to  the  danger 
of  even  talking  of  the  equality  in  dignity  of  military 
courts  and  military  commissions  with  the  judicial  courts 
of  the  United  States.  This  was  a  danger  which  our  fore 
fathers  realized,  and  provided  against  in  the  Constitution. 
"  They  made,"  said  Mr.  Bayard,  "  even  before  the  forma 
tion  of  our  present  government,  their  immortal  protest 
against  the  British  king,  and  among  their  reasons  for 

*  March  8,  1880. 


72  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

claiming  independence  of  his  rule  was  that  he  had  affect 
ed  to  render  the  military  independent  of  or  superior  to 
the  civil  power."  "  Sir,"  he  added,  "  there  have  been 
many  suggestions  in  this  debate,  many  things  that  have 
occurred  in  the  course  of  this  debate,  there  is  too  much 
in  the  air  nowadays  throughout  this  country,  that  does 
tend  to  aggrandize  the  military  power  to  the  danger  of 
civil  and  constitutional  liberty.  We  have  heard  here  in 
effect  proclaimed  that  military  courts  and  courts-martial 
are  in  substance  part  of  the  judicial  power  of  the  United 
States,  that  they  have  equal  dignity,  that  they  are  as 
wholly  irreversible  in  their  decisions  as  those  of  the  judi 
cial  branch  of  the  government.  I  dissent  in  toto  from 
such  a  proposition.  I  say,  on  the  contrary,  that  military 
rule  is  obnoxious  to  the  American  people,  and  it  is  justly 
so  to  all  people  who  would  remain  free."  Then  he  goes 
on  to  show  how,  while  the  military  is  a  part  of  the  execu 
tive  arm,  the  judiciary  is  a  separate,  independent  branch 
of  the  government. 

This  power  of  definition,  as  a  means  of  setting  forth 
the  limitations  of  the  Constitution,  is  a  very  distinctly 
marked  characteristic  of  Mr.  Bayard.  In  consequence  of 
it  all  his  speeches  bristle  with  pregnant  sentences,  which 
shed  a  glow  of  electric  light  upon  the  subject.  His  illus 
trations  are  arguments  in  themselves  ;  his  very  tropes  are 
syllogisms  compressed.  When  Senator  Morton,  in  oppos 
ing  the  admission  of  Mississippi  in  1870,  asserted  that 
"  definitions  progress,"  and  that,  in  consequence  of  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  amendments,  the  constitutional 
guaranties  in  1880  wrere  different  from  what  they  were 
in  1787,  Mr.  Bayard  said  that  the  expression  was  the 
most  alarming  proposition — "the  largest  stride  toward 
legislative  omnipotence"  that  had  yet  been  heard  of. 


LEADING   QUESTIONS.— MR.   BAYARD'S  VIEWS.  73 

u  Why,"  said  he,  "  its  result  would  be  to  resolve  this  Con 
gress  into  a  committee  of  public  safety.  It  would  be  to 
pass  that  senatorial  decree  of  ancient  Rome,  that  it  be 
hooved  the  Senate  to  look  to  the  safety  of  the  republic ; 
and  after  that  what  remains  of  civil  or  constitutional  lib 
erty  ? " 

Speaking  of  "  reconstruction,"  Mr.  Bayard  said :  "  Af 
ter  all,  sir,  what  bald  humbugs  and  wretched  shams  are 
your  reconstructed  governments,  and  your  'resuscitated 
States,'  as  they  have  been  termed  in  the  course  of  this  de 
bate  !  What  honest  man  but  must  laugh  in  scorn  at  these 
specimens  of  radical  manufacture  set  up  here  as  repub 
lican  States  !  The  machinery  of  our  own  constitution  of 
government,  designed  only  for  operation  through  the  ex 
ercise  of  the  will  of  a  free  people,  has  been  distorted  and 
perverted  to  purposes  of  tyranny  and  usurpation.  Hence 
the  failure  of  all  these  schemes  of  reconstruction  ;  hence 
they  will  always  fail,  for  you  can  not  ingraft  the  princi 
ples  of  despotic  power  on  the  tree  of  liberty  !  You  may 
mutilate  that  tree,  and  insert  your  unnatural  scions,  but 
they  will  never  grow  !  " 

"  Loyalty,"  Mr.  Bayard  calls  "  that  mysterious  word, 
that  many-colored  garment  of  political  favoritism."  It 
was  in  1870  that  Mr.  Bayard,  with  a  prescience  which 
the  holders  of  Virginia  and  Tennessee  and  Louisiana  and 
Carolina  bonds  must  sigh  to  think  they  did  not  recognize, 
declared  the  newly  constituted  negro  voters  to  be  "  nat 
ural-lorn  rcpudiators"  The  Republican  party  to-day 
affects  to  despise  the  alliance  which  Senator-elect  Mahone, 
of  Virginia,  offers  them.  They  can  not  deny,  however, 
that  Mahone  and  the  "  readjusters  "  owe  their  supremacy 
in  the  Old  Dominion  to  this  race  into  whose  hands  they 
recklessly  thrust  the  suffrage,  giving  practically  the  con- 


74  LIFE  OF  TIIOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

trol  of  property  to  a  class  not  only  ignorant  of  the  laws 
and  semi-barbarous,  but  creators  of  inevitable  insolvency 
by  the  mere  bent  of  their  "  lavish,  simple-minded,  thrift 
less,  easy-going  natures."  Mr.  Bayard's  moral  texture 
was  never  shown  in  all  its  strength  and  purity  better  than 
in  the  unconscious  enunciation  of  his  creed  in  the  little 
speech  on  equal  rights  in  public  schools  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  Said  he,  u  Minorities  may  have  terrors  to 
some  men,  but  I  have  been  in  one  too  long,  and  /  have 
found  too  much  of  comfort  in  being  there,  to  let  such  prop 
ositions  have  any  terror  for  me.  A  man  who  makes  the 
performance  of  duty  his  object,  I  am  satisfied,  will  be 
happy,  whether  he  be  successful  or  not." 

Mr.  Bayard's  intellect  is,  like  his  moral  nature,  pure 
and  clear  as  a  bell.  He  thinks  largely  and  broadly  as 
becomes  a  man  upon  the  high  plane  on  which  he  moves. 
Speaking  of  the  changes  of  party  and  individual  opinion 
in  regard  to  currency  matters,  he  said,  "  What  was  truth 
then  is  truth  to-day.  The  laws  of  health  do  not  change 
because  men  become  sick — indeed,  it  is  then  they  must  be 
most  carefully  consulted  and  obeyed."  The  credit  sys 
tem  which  finally  exploded  in  1873,  he  called  "  the  system 
that  had  stimulated  men  to  believe  that  the  great  primeval 
decree  that  men  should  eat  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their 
face  was  in  some  way  repealed,  and  that  people  could 
grow  rich  without  labor,  and  Congress  could  ordain  that 
people  should  be  prosperous  and  happy  without  following 
natural  laws."  "  Heaven  help  us,"  he  said,  in  his  harvest- 
home  speech  at  Newport,  Delaware,  "if  the  time  shall 
come  when  the  value  of  every  man's  farm  and  every  con 
tract  he  makes  is  to  be  determined  by  some  accidental 
majority  in  Congress  that  may  change  every  two  years." 
"  At  the  bottom  of  all  human  dealings,"  he  said,  "lie  cer- 


LEADING  QUESTIONS — MR.   BAYARD'S  VIEWS.  75 

tain  simple  principles  implanted  there  by  the  Author  of 
our  being.  One  of  these  is  truth — nothing  that  is  not 
based  upon  truth  can  long  subsist,  and  honesty  is  but  one 
form  of  truth.  The  reason  why  gold  and  silver  are  ac 
cepted  among  men  as  a  standard  of  value  is  not  merely 
because  of  their  attributes,  their  indestructibility,  their 
durability,  but  because  these  metals  truthfully  represent 
so  much  human  labor  expended  in  obtaining  them,  and 
are  worth  so  much  as  commodities,  because  it  costs  so 
much  to  procure  them.  If  gold  and  silver  are  adulterated 
they  are  no  longer  true,  but  false."  "  We  live  in  sad  and 
troublous  times,"  is  Mr.  Bayard's  opinion,  "  and  we  must 
live  through  them  like  honest  men.  On  shipboard,  when 
the  storm  is  raging,  and  hope  seems  almost  dead,  the  cry 
is  often  heard,  '  Break  open  the  spirit-room ! '  but  the 
true  captain  will  have  a  firm  guard  at  the  door  to  keep 
the  men  back,  to  save  his  ship  and  save  the  lives  of  the 
wild  and  foolish  creatures  who  invoke  their  owrn  de 
struction." 

Thomas  F.  Bayard  has  shown  himself  to  be  this 
"  good  captain,"  whenever  the  hour  of  peril  forced  him 
to  take  the  lead.  He  showed  it  in  the  case  of  the  Elec 
toral  Commission ;  in  the  case  of  the  debates  and  votes 
on  the  appropriation  bills  in  the  extra  session  of  1879 ; 
in  all  the  financial  issues  since  1879,  in  which  period  so 
many  of  his  fellow  Democrats  have  gone  astray,  their 
heads  lost  in  the  fogs  and  bewilderment,  and  their  feet 
mixed  in  the  quicksands,  of  the  "  Ohio  idea  " ;  and  he 
showed  it  in  every  contest  between  the  majority  and 
minority  of  Congress  on  the  issue  of  federal  usurpations 
and  violations  of  the  Constitution. 

It  would  be  easy  to  draw  up  the  chart  by  which  this 
"good  captain"  does  his  plain  sailing — the  platform  of 


76  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.    BAYARD. 

this  true,  loyal,  pure  Democrat,  which,  indeed,  is  the  only 
platform  upon  which  true,  loyal,  honest  Democracy  can 
find  room  to  plant  itself.  Integrity,  honesty,  economy, 
these  three  words  sum  it  all  up. 

First.  Mr.  Bayard  clings  with  religious  deference  to 
the  Constitution  as  it  was  understood  by  the  founders, 
and  has  been  construed  by  their  successors,  and  to  a  strict 
and  rigorous  limitation  of  the  delegated  powers  of  the 
government,  to  the  end  that  one  branch  may  not  suffo 
cate  the  other,  and  the  States  disappear  under  the  wheels 
of  the  Juggernaut  of  centralization.  It  is  Mr.  Bayard's 
doctrine  that  "  The  framers  of  our  government  sought  to 
limit  power,  and  accomplished  their  end  by  the  distribu 
tion  of  power.  The  very  distribution  of  power  was  to 
work  its  limitation." 

Second.  He  does  not  approve  of  class  legislation, 
which  always  follows  from  the  consolidation  of  power. 
Power,  he  holds,  is  always  stealing  from  the  many  to  the 
few,  and  class  legislation  promotes  this.  Whether  it  takes 
the  shape  of  tariffs  for  protection,  the  creation  of  national 
banks,  the  subsidizing  of  roads  and  steamship  lines  with 
grants  of  lands  or  money,  he  is  hostile  to  it,  because  it  tends 
to  break  down  the  safeguards  of  freedom,  to  increase  the 
expenses  of  government,  make  the  rich  richer  and  the 
poor  poorer. 

Third.  Honest  money  he  demands,  because  Congress 
had  no  right  to  give  us  any  other.  "'The  Good  Book 
tells  us,"  he  says,  in  one  of  his  open-air  speeches,  '  Re 
move  not  the  ancient  landmarks  which  thy  fathers  have 
set,'  and,  in  the  name  of  our  fathers,  of  Washington,  of 
Hamilton,  of  Jefferson,  of  Madison,  of  Webster,  of  Jack 
son,  and  of  Calhoun,  I  ask  that  the  ancient  landmark  of 
an  honest  money  be  not  removed."  He  demands  it  also 


LEADING   QUESTIONS.— MR.   BAYARD'S  VIEWS.  77 

for  the  sake  of  the  poor  man,  robbed  of  his  earnings  by 
fraudulent  money,  and  in  order  to  enable  our  productive 
classes  to  compete  with  Europe.  "  Our  competition  with 
other  nations,"  he  says,  "  is  close,  and  growing  closer  ;  we 
must  buckle  down  to  our  work,  and  neglect  nothing.  We 
have  honest  weights  and  measures  fixed  by  law  ;  let  us  in 
sist  upon  the  restoration  of  THE  GREAT  MEASURE  OF  MEA 
SURES,  AN  HONEST  MONEY." 

Fourth.  An  honest  and  frugal  administration  and 
civil  service.  "  We  are  in  debt,"  Mr.  Bayard  says,  "  and 
have  got  to  pay  it  or  be  disgraced  ;  and  I  will  not  admit 
there  is  any  alternative  to  the  American  people  on  that 
subject.  Now,  we  must  study  rules  of  economy  to  do 
this."  Dishonest  money  and  a  government  devoid  of 
respect  for  the  limitations  of  the  Constitution  have  led  to 
extravagance  in  government  which  must  be  reformed. 
"  A  habit  of  dealing  with  large  sums  in  a  reckless  way  " 
(so  Mr.  Bayard  puts  it),  "  in  other  words,  an  utter  loss  of 
the  sense  of  values  has  resulted,  and  the  man  who  loses 
the  sense  of  relative  values  is  a  most  unsafe  guardian  of 
the  public  treasury.  There  has  grown  up  a  vast  body  of 
civil  officials,  appointed  under  a  system  which  can  not 
bear  examination — a  civil  service  which,  of  itself,  threat 
ens  almost^the  permanence  and  success  of  republican  in 
stitutions.  The  idea  that  the  public  offices  of  the  country 
were  established  for  the  benefit  of  the  persons  who  fill 
them  is  wholly  wrong.  The  office  is  instituted  for  the 
public  service ;  it  is  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  man  who 
holds  it ;  it  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  whose  laws  cre 
ated  it  and  whose  service  is  to  be  performed.  The  good 
and  faithful  servant  of  the  public  is  entitled  to  be  secured 
and  maintained  on  the  same  principles  precisely  as  the 
good  and  faithful  servant  of  a  private  employer.  The 


Y8  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

man  who  does  his  duty  in  public  office  owes  nothing  to 
the  public.  He  has  rendered  them  back  quid  pro  quo. 
He  has  given  them  that  which  they  were  entitled  to,  and 
they  have  paid  him  no  more  than  justly  was  his  right. 
But  when  office  has  been,  as  we  see  and  know,  dependent, 
not  upon  the  excellence  of  the  manner  in  which  its  duties 
were  performed,  but  is  made  a  reward  for  mere  partisan 
exertions,  sometimes  services  which  would  not  bear  close 
examination ;  and  when  the  holder  of  the  office  depends 
upon  the  pleasure  of  the  appointing  power  or  the  whim 
and  caprice  of  the  party  to  which  he  must  look  for  main 
tenance  in  his  place,  you  may  be  assured  that  his  duties 
will  not  be  the  first  and  chief  point  of  his  consideration. 
But  rather  that  his  time  will  be  spent  in  contriving  how 
little  he  may  do  for  the  post,  and  how  he  may  best  con 
tinue  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  official  emoluments. 

"  An  intelligent  Englishman,  holding  a  high  station  in 
his  country's  government,  in  discussing  this  question  not 
long  ago,  told  me  he  would  be  perfectly  willing  to  under 
take  the  conduct  of  our  departmental  business,  conduct 
ing  what  may  be  called  the  entire  clerical  business  of  the 
great  departments  of  our  government  with  one  third  the 
number  of  our  present  officials,  provided  he  could  pro 
cure  the  same  class  that  were  employed  by  his  govern 
ment  at  home,  men  who  had  been  trained  for  the  work, 
arid  who  knew  if  they  did  their xduty  they  need  not  fear 
being  displaced,  but  would  find  a  long  life  of  public  ser 
vice  met  at  the  end  with  pension,  reward,  diminished  la 
bor,  and  public  thanks. 

"  I  have  been  one  of  your  representatives  at  Wash 
ington  for  some  years  past.  I  can  well  attest  the  great 
pressure  there  is  for  official  appointment,  and  the  evil,  it 
strikes  me,  is  not  in  the  fact  of  the  salaries  being  too 


LEADING   QUESTIONS.— MR.    BAYARD'S   VIEWS.  79 

On  the  contrary,  I  think,  for  the  character  of  the 
service  demanded,  they  are,  in  many  instances,  less  than 
they  ought  to  be.  It  is  to  the  superfluous  number  of 
persons  employed,  and  their  precarious  tenure,  that  we 
owe  our  imperfect  system  which  has  led  to  such  enormous 
expense." 

Fifth.  ~No  subsidies ;  no  waste ;  sound  laws,  honestly 
administered ;  the  civil  power  supreme  in  the  state ;  the 
fostering  of  that  spirit  of  amity  and  conciliation,  of  mu 
tual  deference  and  concession  which  the  peculiarities  of 
our  political  situation  render  indispensable,  and  without 
which  the  Union  can  not  be  restored — these  things  com 
prise  Mr.  Bayard's  platform,  as  declared  in  his  speeches 
and  emphasized  in  his  actions.  In  both  word  and  act  he 
is  frank  and  sincere  to  such  a  degree  that  all  he  says  and 
all  he  does  count  at  their  full  value.  Mr.  Bayard  never 
seeks  to  accomplish  his  objects  by  indirection.  He  has  a 
noble  scorn  of  the  art  of  "  looking  one  way  and  rowing 
another  "  in  which  politicians  are  supposed  to  excel.  Still 
more  does  he  despise  the  tribe  of  Pecksniff  and  all  others 
who  make  pretense  for  pelf.  "  I  do  not  spell  humanity 
with  a  large  H,"  said  he,  when  voting  for  an  appropria 
tion  to  relieve  the  starving  f reedmen  gathered  at  Washing 
ton,  u  nor  freedom  with  a  capital  F ;  but  I  am,  nevertheless, 
willing  to  do  what  I  can  to  relieve  distress  and  suffering 
where  I  find  them." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    UNION    AND    THE    CONSTITUTION. 

IN  the  excited  times  that  preceded  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  of  1861  there  were  two — parties  we  can  not  call  them, 
for  they  were  not  held  together  by  party  ties,  nor  can  we 
call  them  sections,  for  they  were  not  separated  by  geo 
graphical  boundaries — two  aggregates  of  men  opposing 
each  other,  and  actuated  by  diametrically  antagonistic 
principles  and  purposes.  These  were  the  peace  men  and 
the  war  men  on  both  sides  of  the  line. 

The  war  men  of  the  two  sections,  led  by  such  men  as 
he  who  said  at  the  South,  "  Give  me  the  sword,  or  I  will 
take  it  myself,"  and  he  who  declared  at  the  North  that 
"  the  Union  was  not  worth  a  rush  without  blood-letting," 
bitterly  hostile  as  they  were  in  other  respects,  agreed  in 
this,  that  they  wanted  war  rather  than  peace,  and  so  played 
into  each  others  hands  with  the  skill  and  concert  of  two 
partners  in  a  game.  Each  angry  expression,  each  taunt 
or  threat,  each  lawless  act  of  the  one  scored  a  point  for 
the  other,  and  was  adroitly  used  to  inflame  the  popular 
mind  and  draw  recruits  to  their  ranks. 

The  peace  men  of  both  the  Republican  and  Democratic 
parties  were  those  who  believed  that  war  was  no  remedy 
for  the  evils  they  felt  or  feaced,  and  who  held  the  only 
remedy  to  be  in  constitutional  legislation  and  the  good 
sense  and  patriotism  of  the  whole  people,  if  the  madness 


THE   UNION    AND   THE   CONSTITUTION.  81 

of  the  hour  could  be  cured.  But  to  cure  this  madness 
was  what  the  others  least  desired.  All  their  efforts  were 
directed  to  exasperate  it ;  and  to  compass  this  they  used 
every  instrument — the  public  forum,  the  press,  the  stump, 
the  pencil,  and  the  pulpit.  With  the  fire-eaters  of  the 
South  we  have  nothing  here  to  do ;  but  the  radicals  of  the 
North  gained  the  masses  to  their  side  and  established 
themselves  in  power  by  persuading  them  that  the  war  was 
only  to  save  the  Constitution  and  the  Union — the  Consti 
tution  which  they  had  repeatedly  broken,  and  the  Union 
of  which  they  had  openly  declared  their  abhorrence.  No 
wonder  that  the  calmer  patriots,  who  saw  the  spirit  that 
ruled  the  hour,  dreaded  the  result,  and  feared  that,  how 
ever  the  war  might  end,  constitutional  liberty  would  be 
lost,  never  to  be  regained.  For  this  in  chief  was  the  ob 
ject  of  their  devotion,  and  the  Union  so  far  as  it  was  a 
means  to  this,  for  which  end,  as  the  Constitution  recites, 
the  Union  was  established.  Liberty  without  union  would 
be  weakness  and  discord,  union  without  liberty  would  be 
even  a  worse  evil — organized  despotism.  The  duty,  then, 
of  all  true  patriots,  throughout  the  war  and  after  the  war, 
was  to  resist  all  encroachments  upon  constitutional  liberty, 
and  to  shield  as  far  as  might  be  the  whole  people  from  a 
worse  fate  than  the  sword  had  brought  upon  the  defeated 
States. 

The  war  ended.  The  conquered  South  accepted  the 
decision  of  the  sword.  There  were  then  two  courses  open 
to  the  party  in  power :  the  one,  to  heal,  as  far  as  they 
could  be  healed,  the  festering  wounds,  to  quench  the  em 
bers  of  hate,  to  restore  constitutional  liberty,  and  bring 
back  peace  to  all  hearts  and  prosperity  to  all  homes.  But 
this  course  was  not  chosen  by  the  radical  leaders.  Pre 
ferring  party  success  to  the  country's  welfare,  and  know- 


82  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ing  that  a  return  of  good  feeling  would  terminate  their 
tenure  of  power,  all  their  efforts  were  exerted  to  keep  up 
the  war  in  other  forms,  and  to  prevent  that  restored  union 
which  had  been  their  professed  object.  No  means  were 
left  untried  to  keep  alive  the  passions  of  the  war,  and  so 
to  fasten  their  own  grip  upon  power  while  these  passions 
lasted  that  it  should  afterward  be  impossible  to  wrest  it 
from  them.  Under  these  two  heads  may  be  summed  up 
the  whole  monstrous  mass  of  radical  legislation  and  ad 
ministration  from  1865  to  1876.  Never  once,  though 
often  challenged,  has  the  radical  party  announced  the  prin 
ciples  by  which  it  proposes  to  lead  this  union  of  States 
in  the  paths  of  peace  and  prosperity.  Measures  to  serve 
a  temporary  purpose  they  have  in  plenty,  but,  when  asked 
for  a  platform,  they  rant  about  "  saving  the  Union,"  which 
they  did  not  save,  and  "  wave  the  bloody  shirt."  To  de 
nounce  all  Democrats  as  secret  or  open  traitors,  to  fix 
upon  whole  States  the  stigma  of  u  brigands,"  to  rekindle 
hate  and  suspicion,  to  stifle  the  voice  of  the  people,  to 
subordinate  the  civil  to  the  military  power,  to  make  the 
federal  legislature  a  council  of  war,  the  judiciary  a  mili 
tary  court,  and  the  executive  a  provost-marshal-general 
—this  has  been  the  radical  policy.  To  these  ends  have 
been  directed  the  reconstruction  acts,  the  force  bills,  the 
Ku-klux  legislation,  the  packing  of  courts  with  partisan 
juries  in  the  box  and  pliant  judges  on  the  bench,  the  ex 
pulsion  of  honest  officers,  and  the  enrichment  and  exalta 
tion  of  knaves.  From  this  policy,  as  its  natural  conse 
quence,  came  that  saturnalia  of  lawlessness,  violence, 
fraud,  and  robbery  that  disgraced  the  eight  years  of 
Grant's  administration. 

Against  all  these  things,  and  each  as  it  arose,  Mr. 
Bayard  has  always   steadily  and  fearlessly  uplifted  his 


THE   UNION   AND   THE   CONSTITUTION.  83 

voice,  not  as  a  partisan  opposing  party  measures,  but 
as  a  citizen  and  legislator  of  the  whole  country,  resisting 
measures  that  tended  to  its  ruin.  Whenever  the  choice 
lay  between  hatred  and  enmity,  between  law  and  breach 
of  law,  between  good  faith  and  bad  faith,  between  the 
Constitution  and  violations  of  it,  between  liberty  and  the 
encroachments  of  power,  between  honesty  and  fraud,  men 
could  always  predict  with  unerring  certainty  where  Bay 
ard  was  to  be  found.  His  attachment  to  the  union  of 
the  States  was  not  reiterated  so  vociferously  in  cheap  and 
empty  rhetoric  as  was  the  fashion  among  some,  with 
whom,  perhaps,  there  was  greater  necessity.  He  was 
never  a  dealer  in  fine  sentimentalities,  and,  instead  of  brag 
ging  of  his  patriotism,  preferred  .to  show  it  by  a  steady 
devotion  to  the  Constitution  and  the  principles  on  which 
the  Union  was  founded.  He  preferred  patriotic  legisla 
tion  to  patriotic  flourishes,  nor  desired  to  boast  in  words 
of  that  which  he  could  best  illustrate  by  his  actions. 

Yet,  with  all  his  loftiness  of  principle,  there  has  been 
no  impracticable  quixotism,  no  aiming  at  things  palpably 
impossible,  or  refusing  a  lesser  good  because  a  greater 
was  not  to  be  had.  He  has  always  known  that  the  duty 
of  a  legislator  is  to  do  the  best  that  he  can,  not  the  best 
that  he  would. 

The  only  course  open  to  the  upright  conservative 
statesmen  in  those  days,  when  such  formed  but  a  feeble 
minority  in  Congress,  was  steadily  to  offer  an  exemplary, 
if  ineffective,  opposition  to  all  unsound  legislation ;  to 
repeat,  though  to  unwilling  ears,  the  true  principles  on 
which  the  government  had  been  founded  ;  and  to  warn  his 
countrymen,  on  every  fit  occasion,  how  far  they  were 
drifting  from  their  true  course,  and  the  rocks  toward 
which  they  were  driving.  All  legislation  for  party  pur- 


84  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.    BAYARD. 

poses,  everything  that  savored  of  chicanery  or  sharp 
practice,  everything  that  tended  to  lower  the  standard  of 
public  honor,  he  boldly  denounced.  Thus,  when  it  was 
urged  that,  owing  to  the  loose  wording  of  the  law  impos 
ing  a  tax  on  tobacco,  the  treasury  was  likely  to  lose  heav 
ily,  to  avoid  which  a  modification  was  proposed,  which, 
under  certain  circumstances,  might  entail  the  payment  of 
a  double  tax,  he  said :  "  I  can  see  how  this  government 
may  afford  to  lose  money,  but  I  can  not  see  how  it  can 
afford  to  lose  character,  and  fail  to  keep  good  faith  with 
the  citizen  ....  I  trust  that  the  United  States  govern 
ment,  in  dealing  with  the  people,  will  always  set  the  great 
example  of  the  uttermost  good  faith  with  those  who  have 
striven  to  keep  their  obligations  with  it ;  and,  if  under 
existing  laws  there  be  imperfections  in  ascertaining  the 
proper  amount  of  tax  .to  be  levied,  I  think  that  the  gov 
ernment  should  suffer  that,  and  not  the  people  who  have 
striven  to  do  their  duty  toward  it."  * 

Measures  of  temporary  expediency  he  was  equally 
averse  to,  knowing  that  the  permanence  and  fixedness  of 
the  laws  were  next  in  importance  to  their  justice.  Thus, 
when,  in  1872,  a  bill  had  been  introduced  taking  the  duty 
off  tea  and  coffee,  Mr.  Bayard  opposed  it  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  "  a  piece  of  the  demagogy  of  politics  "  ;  that 
those  who  introduced  it  knew  well  that,  while  it  might 
serve  a  temporary  purpose,  it  would  certainly  be  rescind 
ed  before  long;  and  that,  above  all  things,  the  business 
men  of  the  country  "had  a  right  to  ask  that  stability 
should  be  an  element  of  the  laws."  The  whole  com 
merce  of  the  country,  he  said,  had  suffered  more  by  the 
"  wavering  and  staggering "  of  Congress  on  the  subject 

*  Remarks  on  the  tobacco  tax,  April  8,  1869. 


THE    UNION   AND   THE   CONSTITUTION.  85 

of  these  very  duties  than  from  any  imposition,  however 
heavy. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  opposed  this  piece  of  dema 
gogy,  he  reiterated  his  adhesion  to  the  sound  Demo 
cratic  doctrine  of  a  revenue  tariff.  "  I  consider,"  he  goes 
on  to  say,*  "  that,  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  the  business 
of  the  whole  country,  we  should  not  proceed  to  deal  by 
piecemeal  with  the  revenues  of  the  country.  .  .  .  My 
own  hope  is  that  the  tariff  will  be  reduced  to  a  revenue 
standard.  I  believe  that  for  that  purpose,  and  that  pur 
pose  only,  is  it  justified." 

In  the  same  way,  and  on  the  same  ground  that  open 
ness,  fairness,  and  good  faith,  expected  of  all,  were  above 
all  to  be  expected  of  statesmen  legislating  for  the  com 
mon  good,  has  he  shown  himself  the  unwavering  foe  of 
caucus  legislation.  The  caucus,  in  some  form  or  other, 
is  probably  an  unavoidable  feature  of  party  government. 
It  is  necessary,  with  regard  .to  grave  measures,  that  the 
party  shall  act  in  concert ;  and,  so  far  as  a  caucus  does  no 
more  than  provide  for  this,  and  equal  privileges  are  al 
lowed  to  the  opposing  party,  it  can  not  be  objected  to. 
But  the  caucus  was  abused  by  the  majority  so  as  to  form 
a  secret  legislature,  where,  with  closed  doors,  measures 
were  concocted,  every  man's  part  assigned  him,  and  they 
were  then  sprung  upon  the  legislative  body  without 
warning,  and  rushed  through  without  time  allowed  for 
consideration  or  debate. 

Speaking  of  this  strategy,  he  says  :  "  I  can  not  jegard 
with  respect  or  approval,  and  I  must  consider  it  as  de 
structive  of  the  spirit  of  our  constitutional  form  of  govern 
ment,  that  it  has  pleased  the  majority  in  this,  as  in  other 

*  Remarks,  April  30,  1872. 


86  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  P.   BAYARD. 

cases,  to  consider  grave  public  questions  in  the  secret 
councils  of  party  alone,  and  then  suddenly  to  promulgate 
them  by  party  orders,  and  call  upon  their  associates  in 
this  chamber  instantly  to  act  upon  them  before  they  can 
be  known,  before  they  can  be  fully  comprehended,  or 
that  proper  preparation  made  for  their  deliberate  consid 
eration  which  every  man  in  this  chamber  owes  to  a  ques 
tion  before  he  casts  his  representative  vote  upon  it.  ... 
The  preparation  of  public  measures  in  party  caucus,  and 
their  enactment  into  law  without  public  explanation  or 
debate,  is  a  defeat  of  the  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  our 
government." 

It  may  be  seen  from  these  illustrations,  and  will  more 
fully  appear  in  other  pages  of  this  sketch,  how  far  Mr. 
Bayard  stands  above  the  ordinary  partisan  leader.  To 
meet  innovation  by  counter-innovation,  to  defeat  a  mea 
sure  by  shifty  finesse,  to  win  a  party  triumph  by  adroit 
jugglery — such  was  never  his  idea  of  statesmanship,  nor 
his  mode  of  opposition.  lie  has  never  forgotten  that  he 
was  a  legislator  for  the  whole  country ;  and,  if  he  has  de 
sired  the  success  of  one  party  rather  than  another,  it  is 
because  he  believes  the  fundamental  policy  of  that  party 
to  be  the  best  for  the  people  of  all  parties  and  of  all  sec 
tions.  His  hope  and  aim  have  been  to  bring  back  the 
whole  people  to  the  ancient  regard  for  constitutional  lib 
erty,  in  which  alone  there  is  safety ;  to  their  ancient  re 
spect  for  law,  which  can  never  be  recovered  unless  the 
law-makers  show  themselves  worthy  of  confidence  and  re 
spect  ;  to  their  former  wise  dread  of  the  usurpation  by 
one  branch  of  the  government  of  the  functions  or  powers 
of  another,  or  of  the  enlargement  of  powers  which  the 
Constitution  has  most  wisely  and  cautiously  limited. 

By  such  ways  has  he  endeavored  to  check  the  head- 


THE   UNION   AND   THE   CONSTITUTION.  87 

long  course  of  the  party  in  power,  and  to  pave  the  way 
for  a  restoration  of  sounder  government  and  better  foot 
ing.  Amid  all  the  turmoil  of  party  warfare  he  has  kept 
in  view  the  true  issues  of  the  great  struggle,  on  the  solu 
tion  of  which  our  political  destinies  depend.  These  issues 
are  so  clearly  put  in  his  speech  of  October  4,  1872,  at 
Wilmington,  that  we  quote  at  some  length : 

"  The  issue  which  I  tell  you  has  been  formed  in  this 
country,  in  one  shape  or  another  always  asserting  itself 
since  the  formation  of  the  government,  is  the  issue  be 
tween  the  tendencies  of  power,  wherever  it  be  placed,  to 
increase  and  centralize  itself,  and  the  corresponding  effort 
under  our  Constitution  to  prevent  that  centralization  and 
insist  upon  a  distribution  of  power.  Let  me  endeavor  to 
place  this  idea  clearly  before  you. 

"  The  men  who  formed  this  government  had,  as  you 
know,  suffered  from  arbitrary  power.  They  had  been 
coerced  by  an  arbitrary  government.  They  took  up  arms 
to  relieve  themselves,  and,  under  God's  providence,  were 
successful.  Their  sufferings  you  know  ;  they  are  part  of 
the  history  of  your  country,  and  I  am  sure  it  ought  to  be 
a  most  important  lesson  for  us  in  all  time.  Having  suf 
fered  from  arbitrary  power,  the  men  who  laid  the  foun 
dations  of  this  government  determined  that  they  would 
put  limitations  upon  power,  no  matter  where  that  power 
was  deposited.  They  knew  the  weakness  of  the  human 
heart ;  they  knew  that  if  you  give  a  man  power  he  will 
exercise  it  for  the  most  advantage  to  himself  and  in  ways 
not  intended  ;  and  they  therefore  determined  that  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  government  of  the  United  States 
there  should  be  no  grant  of  power  that  was  not  limited, 
no  such  thing  as  absolute  power,  no  power  that  was  to  be 
without  limitation  both  as  to  its  extent  and  duration. 


88  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

How  did  they  accomplish  that  ?  By  distributing  powers, 
by  dividing  our  government  into  different  departments, 
all  of  which  should  be  coordinate  and  equal,  none  of 
which  should  be  absolute  or  superior. 

"  The  national  legislature  was  created  with  ample 
power  to  make  laws,  but  not  absolutely,  for  the  President 
had  his  right  to  veto.  There  was  also  the  check  of  a 
written  Constitution  that  those  laws  should  not  pass  the 
subjects  or  the  extent  of  power  conferred  by  its  provi 
sions  ;  but,  in  case  they  did,  there  was  the  other  great 
check  upon  them,  the  judicial  department.  Even  if  the 
Congress  and  the  President  assented  to  the  law,  it  was  to 
be  subjected  to  the  test  whether,  in  the  minds  of  the  judi 
ciary  of  the  country,  it  was,  or  was  not,  an  infringement 
of  the  limitations  imposed  by  the  written  charter. 

"  They  further  distributed  power  over  this  country  so 
that  the  national  executive,  the  national  legislature,  and 
the  national  judiciary,  all  checking  each  other,  should 
not  even  when  combined  be  omnipotent,  because  they 
left  to  our  system  of  States  the  whole  mass  of  powers 
not  delegated  and  enumerated  in  the  grant  of  powers  to 
the  general  government.  The  general  government  had 
none  but  certain  delegated  powers ;  all  the  rest  were  ex 
pressly  reserved  to  the  States ;  they  were  diffused  broadly 
throughout  the  land,  and  they  were  intended  by  that  dis 
tribution  to  be  a  check  upon  each  other  and  a  check  upon 
the  federal  government,  and  the  federal  government  was 
intended  to  be  a  check  upon  them.  Our  fathers  arranged 
this  system  with  perfect  harmony,  so  that  in  the  mind  of 
any  honest  man,  determined  to  obey  both  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  passed  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws  of  the  States  which  are  subjected  to  the  State 
constitutions  and  to  the  federal  Constitution  also,  there  can 


THE   UNION"   AND   THE   CONSTITUTION'.  89 

not  be  a  question  of  conflict  winch  can  not  be  relieved  by  a 
fair  and  candid  examination  of  these  different  instruments. 

"  Do  you  understand  me  ?  The  framers  of  our  govern 
ment  sought  to  limit  power,  and  accomplished  their  end 
ly  the  distribution  of  power.  The  very  distribution  of 
power  was  to  work  its  limitation. 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  what  is  the  result  ?  If  you  destroy 
the  distribution,  then  you  destroy  the  limitation,  and  the 
power  becomes  consolidated  and  absolute.  It  is  this  issue 
coming  up  in  our  history  at  different  times,  but  never 
before  looming  up  in  the  dreadful  proportions  which  it 
has  now  assumed,  which  has  been  the  issue  upon  one  side 
of  which  the  party  called  the  Democratic  party  has  ever 
without  fail  been  found.  I  claim  for  that  party,  not  that 
it  contained  better  men  than  others,  not  that  they  were 
less  fallible  than  their  fellow  citizens,  not  that  they  were 
more  learned  or  more  wise ;  nay,  I  will  not  say  they 
were  more  patriotic,  but  that  the  reason  why  it  has  had 
vitality  and  existence  from  the  foundation  of  our  govern 
ment  until  to-day,  yea,  why  it  will  exist  so  long  as  the 
very  forms  of  freedom  are  left  in  this  country,  is  because 
it  is  based  on  the  principle  of  freedom,  of  opposition  to 
centralized  power,  and  an  insistence  on  the  distribution 
and  limitation  of  powers  for  the  public  safety. 

"  I  care  not  what  may  be  the  issue  that  arises,  the  true 
test  is,  does  the  measure  proposed  tend  to  destroy  the 
limitations  upon  power  that  keep  us  a  free  people,  or  does 
it  tend  to  centralize  power  in  any  hands  ?  If  it  tends  to 
centralization,  it  is  anti-Democratic  in  the  best  meaning 
of  the  word  ;  if  it  tends  to  the  diffusion  of  power  through 
out  the  land,  then  it  is  in  accordance  with  their  sentiment. 

"  If  I  read  the  history  and  the  meaning  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  of  the  United  States  aright,  it  has  always  been 


90  LIFE   OF   TIIOMAS  F.    BAYARD. 

the  organization  wliich  has  advocated  the  distribution  of 
power,  and  never  its  consolidation. 

"  Nowhere  in  the  history  of  this  government  under  a 
Democratic  administration  will  an  attempt  be  found  to 
gain  or  retain  control  by  the  consolidation  of  powers. 
Never  under  Democratic  rule  was  an  attempt  made  to 
usurp  the  just  powers  of  any  State,  nor  to  invade  the  pre 
rogative  of  one  branch  of  the  government  by  another. 

"  Thus,  there  was  no  class  legislation,  no  creation  of 
vast  federal  corporations,  no  imperial  grants  of  lands,  no 
chartering  of  a  whole  system  of  banks  ;  but,  on  the  con 
trary,  an  examination  of  its  record  will  disclose  the  truth 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  distribution  of  power  and  the  pre 
vention  of  its  consolidation  has  been  from  first  to  last  the 
steady  principle  which  the  Democratic  party  has  followed 
in  or  out  of  power.  The  preservation  of  the  rights  of  the 
States,  of  the  rights  of  the  people  of  the  States  to  fully 
exercise  all  the  powers  of  self-government  in  relation  to 
their  internal  and  domestic  affairs,  has  never  in  the  most 
heated  party  times  been  attempted  to  be  interfered  writh 
by  the  Democratic  party. 

"  In  one  word,  the  course  of  that  party  has  always 
favored  the  doctrine  of  limitations  upon  power  wherever 
that  power  was  deposited.  If  the  axiom  be  true  (and  who 
can  doubt  it  ?)  that  power  is  ever  stealing  from  the  many 
to  the  few,  then  in  a  country  like  our  own,  whose  institu 
tions  were  intended  to  be  as  free  as  was  compatible  with 
the  preservation  of  good  order  and  safety,  the  party  that 
most  jealously  opposes  the  consolidation  of  powers  is  not 
only  essential  for  the  welfare  of  the  country,  but  will  be 
likely  to  prove  its  greatest  safeguard.  A  party  with  such 
a  principle  underlying  it  will  always  exist  while  a  shadow 
of  freedom  remains,  and  it  matters  not  under  what  name. 


THE   UNION   AND   THE    CONSTITUTION.  91 

"  I  believe  it  was  for  this  reason,  thus  broadly  stated, 
that  prosperity,  good  feeling,  and  good  order  existed 
throughout  our  land.  Simply  because  no  power  of  the 
government  was  urged  out  of  its  proper  sphere,  and  the 
harmony  between  federal  and  State  governments  was  suf 
fered  to  remain  undisturbed,  in  accordance  with  the  wise 
system  arranged  by  our  forefathers.  Nothing  but  the 
truth,  the  actual  vitality  of  this  principle  that  governmen 
tal  powers,  always  seeking  to  aggrandize  themselves  in  one 
form  or  another,  are  steadily  to  be  kept  in  check  by  the 
will  of  the  people  over  whom  they  are  sought  to  be  exer 
cised,  has  ever  enabled  the  Democratic  party  to  maintain 
its  existence  amid  all  political  fluctuations,  changes  of 
events  and  conditions  in  this  country  during  the  whole 
of  the  present  century. 

"It  has  contained  good  men  and  bad  men,  and  both 
classes  at  times  have  had  power  under  its  organization, 
but  both  were  alike  compelled  to  administer  the  govern 
ment  in  subordination  to  the  principle  I  have  referred  to. 
Hence,  we  of  the  Democratic  faith  have  always  inscribed 
'  principles,  not  men,'  on  our  banners. 

"  Let  us  look  a  little  further  at  the  wisdom  of  the  men 
who  framed  this  government.  They  knew  the  inevitable 
tendency  of  power.  You  give  a  man  a  little  power,  and 
he  uses  it  to  obtain  more.  He  gets  the  more,  and  then 
the  easier  is  it  for  him  to  increase  it.  It  is  like  the  snow 
ball  that  is  begun  by  the  school-boy,  beginning  a  little 
pack  in  his  hands,  it  presently  rolls  itself  into  a  mass  that 
can  not  be  moved.  That  is  the  onward  increase  of  power 
if  left  to  its  own  laws,  unchecked  by  human  contrivance, 
virtue,  or  efforts. 

"The  men  who  formed  this  government  had  other 
ends  in  view.  Not  only  did  they  mean  the  people  of  their 
5 


92  I'TFE  OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

generation  to  be  free,  but  they  meant  their  posterity  to  be 
free  ;  that  the  government  was  to  be  preserved  by  the 
constant  exercise  of  the  principles  upon  which  it  was 
founded  ;  and,  therefore,  when  they  distributed  power  so 
that  centralization  should  be  checked  and  absolute  power 
made,  as  far  as,  humanly,  it  could  be  made,  impossible, 
they  by  that  very  act  gave  the  people  throughout  the 
country  the  right  and  opportunity  of  local  self-govern 
ment.  What  does  that  mean  ?  It  means  the  school  of 
government ;  it  means  the  opportunity  to  learn  how  to 
be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  by  learning  what  the 
functions  and  duties  of  a  citizen  are ;  and  how  can  you 
learn  unless  you  practice  and  try  ?  Take  a  man  among  the 
many  whom  I  see  here  to-night,  whose  hands  and  whose 
arms  are  hardened  by  honest  and  steady  toil,  and  I  ask 
you  how  long  could  those  arms  and  hands,  stalwart  as  they 
are,  perform  their  task  unless  they  had  been  taught  to  do 
it  by  exercise  and  practice  ?  If  you  tie  up  a  man's  arms 
and  he  does  not  use  them,  will  not  the  muscles  wither 
and  grow  weak  ?  "Will  he  not  lose  all  power  of  control 
over  them?  Undoubtedly.  And  is  it  different  with 
your  faculties  of  mind  and  heart?  Certainly  not.  Take 
away  from  a  people  the  opportunity  to  exercise  their 
power  to  think  on  public  subjects,  take  away  from  them 
the  right  of  local  self-government,  and  their  mental 
faculties  will  weaken  just  as  their  muscles  would  if  not 
used. 

"  Therefore,  I  beg  you  to  understand  the  wisdom  of 
the  men  who  founded  this  government.  They  accom 
plished  a  double  object  by  distributing  powers,  insisting 
upon  the  State  systems  and  the  great  rule  and  principles 
of  local  self-government  in  opposition  to  centralization. 
They  did  that  for  the  purpose  of  educating  the  people  to 


THE   UNION   AND   THE   CONSTITUTION.  93 

become  a  self-governing  nation.  The  wisdom  of  all  this 
plan  is  this :  unless  the  people  are  practiced  in  self-gov 
ernment,  they  will  not  be  fit  to  govern  themselves,  and, 
unless  they  do  govern  themselves  locally  according  to  their 
local  interests,  central  power  will  seize  upon  them  and 
their  liberties  and  control  them.  So  that,  in  order  to  be 
free,  in  this  broad  land,  two  things  are  required:  that 
power  shall  be  diffused  throughout  the  country  and  not 
centralized  at  Washington,  and  that  the  people  shall  exer 
cise  their  powers  in  order  to  fit  them  to  carry  on  the  gov 
ernment. 

"  The  rights  of  the  States  were  just  as  fixed  and  posi 
tive,  and  are  to-day  as  essential  for  the  good  government 
of  this  country,  as  the  rights  of  the  general  government. 
They  were  part  of  the  same  system,  and  you  can  not  take 
away  the  rights  of  the  States  without  weakening  our 
whole  system,  without  destroying  the  power  of  the  peo 
ple  by  exercise  to  make  themselves  fit  for  self-govern 
ment  ;  and  you  can  not  take  away  the  rights  of  the  gen 
eral  government  without  making  it  ineffectual  to  carry 
out  the  wishes  of  the  people  and  make  fit  laws  for  them. 
The  harmony  of  the  system  must  be  preserved,  and  there 
is  no  more  reason  to  suppose  that  the  great  object  for 
which  this  government  was  created  will  be  defeated  by 
the  act  of  the  States  than  by  the  act  of  the  central  gov 
ernment.  There  is  no  reason  to  presume  suicide  from 
one  cause  more  than  the  other,  and,  to  use  the  language  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  a  case  lately 
there  decided,  'Such  being  the  separate  and  independent 
condition  of  the  States  in  our  complex  svstem,  as  recog 
nized  by  the  Constitution,  and  the  existence  of  which  is 
so  indispensable  that  without  them  the  general  govern 
ment  itself  would  disappear  from  the  family  of  nations.' 


94  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

"  The  exercise  of  local  self-government,  I  have  said 
to  you,  was  essential  for  the  education  of  the  people. 
Where,  in  the  history  of  the  rule  of  this  country  under 
the  Democratic  party,  was  there  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  general  government  to  invade  a  State  ?  When, 
under  the  rule  of  the  Democratic  party,  was  there  ever  a 
disposition  on  the  part  of  the  general  government  to  allow 
a  State  wantonly  to  invade  its  just  authority  ?  When 
there  seemed  to  be  an  attempt,  in  1833,  on  the  part  of 
South  Carolina  to  destroy  the  harmony  between  her  and 
the  federal  government,  whose  administration  was  it 
whose  wise,  firm  rule  brought  that  State  to  her  proper 
bearings,  and  caused  her  to  resume  her  proper  place  within 
the  national  family  without  the  shedding  of  one  drop  of 
human  blood  ?  Was  it  not  Andrew  Jackson,  backed  by 
the  Democratic  sentiment  of  the  country,  who,  simply  by 
the  beneficent,  regular  operations  of  power  under  the 
federal  Constitution,  compelled  the  disorderly  spirits  of 
that  State  to  render  obedience  to  the  United  States  Con 
stitution  and  laws  'i  Therefore,  you  will  observe  that  not 
only  does  the  record  of  that  party  show  you  that  peace 
and  good  order  were  maintained  by  leaving  to  the  States 
their  just  powers,  but  whenever  there  was  any  attempt 
on  their  part  to  assume  powers  not  belonging  to  them,  or 
refuse  their  due  allegiance  to  the  general  government,  it 
was  met  and  checked  promptly.  In  my  belief,  my  fellow 
citizens,  it  has  been  the  adherence  to  that  principle  that 
has  enabled  the  Democratic  party  to  maintain  its  organi 
zation  so  long ;  and,  so  long  as  it  is  animated  by  that 
spirit  of  true  freedom,  that  just  regard  for  the  spirit  of 
our  institutions  and  our  laws,  so  long  it  will  exist,  until 
even  the  forms  of  election  and  popular  expression  are  de 
stroyed  in  this  land." 


THE  UNION  AND  THE  CONSTITUTION.  95 

Again  and  again  lie  warns  the  party  in  power  against 
the  narrow-minded  and  short-sighted  policy  of  distrust. 

"Do  not,"  he  says,  in  his  remarks  on  the  Mississippi 
election,  "  do  not  base  all  your  legislation  here  upon  the 
presumption  that  the  States  of  this  country  do  not  pro 
pose  to  do  their  duty  by  all  their  citizens.  Do  not  sup 
pose  that  the  best  refuge  and  the  best  sanctuary  for  the 
rights  of  an  American  freeman  are  only  in  the  federal 
courts  of  this  country.  It  is  the  same  spirit  through  all. 
All  are  American  courts.  Do  not  for  the  sake  of  this 
temporary  power  which  is  yours  to-day,  and  may  leave 
you  to-morrow,  invoke  an  authority  which  some  day  may 
be  used  to  interfere  with  that  right  of  free  local  self-gov 
ernment  which  is  the  very  foundation  and  the  very  soul 
of  our  system  of  government.  ...  I  beg  of  you,  with 
all  the  feeling  of  one  American  toward  another,  to  trust 
the  American  people.  Trust  the  people  of  the  American 
States.  Do  not  let  it  go  forth  that  the  men  of  this  coun 
try,  white  or  black,  have  no  protection  except  in  federal 
liberality.  It  is  unjust  to  the  States ;  it  is  unjust  to  the 
people  ;  it  is  creating  a  certain  collision  of  feeling  and  of 
sympathy  between  the  States  and  the  federal  govern 
ment,  which  ought  to  move  along,  each  in  its  own  orbit, 
undisturbing  and  undisturbed." 

We  might  fill  many  pages  with  quotations  from  Mr. 
lanyard's  speeches  in  which  similar  warnings  and  appeals 
are  made.  It  has  been  the  ever-recurring  burden  of  his 
discourse,  because  it  touched  the  very  heart  and  root  of 
the  evil.  With  restored  confidence  and  with  a  spirit  of 
equal  justice  to  all,  once  more  filling  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  north  and  south,  the  men  whose  whole  political 
capital  consists  in  stirring  the  embers  of  discord  would 
soon  find  themselves  plucked  from  their  high  places,  and 


96  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

their  scats  filled  by  statesmen  who,  however  they  might 
differ  on  points  of  policy,  would  have  all  the  same  aim, 
the  good  of  the  whole  country.  A  manly  appeal  like  this 
from  his  speech  of  February  4,  1879,  is  worth  all  the 
"  spread-eagle  "  rhetoric  and  phrase-mongering  that  have 
tickled  foolish  ears  for  a  generation : 

"  I  believe  that  I  can  see  in  these  resolutions  and  in 
others  of  a  similar  tenor  a  desire  to  renew  doubt,  suspi 
cion,  and  distrust  in  one  party  and  one  section  of  our 
country  against  the  other.  Sir,  we  have  had  too  much  of 
that  already.  I  believe  that  all  the  difficulties  that  have 
arisen  in  our  land,  that  have  darkened  our  homes  with 
mourning,  and  spread  their  baleful  shadow  over  the  face 
of  our  country,  have  chiefly  come  from  the  fact  that  our 
countrymen  were  ignorant  of  each  other ;  it  was  the  want 
of  proper  mutual  understanding,  it  was  the  want  of  pro 
per  confidence  that  bred  strife  and  confusion.  If  this 
spirit  of  renewed  confusion  is  to  be  invoked,  if  the  exi 
gencies  of  party  shall  still  call  upon  men  to  raise  the  stan 
dard  of  strife  and  distrust  among  their  countrymen,  what 
ever  may  be  the  result,  I  shall  be  found  on  the  other  side 
invoking  the  methods  of  peace  and  good  will,  and  not  those 
of  war,  invoking  generous  confidence  and  kind  feeling, 
and  not  suspicion  and  hostility ;  asking  our  countrymen 
to  dwell  not  upon  their  mutual  faults,  but  upon  their 
mutual  virtues,  of  which  every  day  and  every  hour  we 
can  witness  happy  illustrations  if  we  do  but  seek  to  real 
ize  and  comprehend  them. 

"  This  country  to-day  needs  peace  and  rest,  recupera 
tion  from  the  losses  of  war,  and  from  the  unwisdom  of 
angry  legislation.  The  man  serves  his  country  best  who 
seeks  to  avoid  confusion  and  strife,  who  seeks  to  disarm 
suspicion  and  to  re-create  confidence  :  and  if  this  is  to  be 


THE   UNION*   AND  THE  CONSTITUTION.  97 

the  issue  that  this  hateful,  dangerous  geographical  line  of 
sentiment  and  action  is  sought  to  be  established,  I,  for 
one,  will  not  accept  it ;  I  will  be  of  no  party,  I  will  aid 
in  no  legislation  that  shall  not  recognize  the  right  of  each 
man  in  all  parts  of  this  country,  and  their  duty  to  do  that 
which  no  legislation  can  enforce — I  mean  the  great  duty 
of  the  creation  of  a  spirit  of  nationality  among  the  in 
habitants  of  this  broad  land.  How  can  that  be  created  if 
men  are  to  be  permitted  to  stand  on  this  floor  and  else 
where,  and  denounce,  with  railing  accusations  and  un 
measured  assaults,  whole  sections  and  States  of  our  Union, 
and  hold  them  up  to  scorn,  to  opprobrium,  to  detesta 
tion  ?  Mr.  President,  there  must  be,  and,  please  Heaven, 
there  shall  be  yet,  the  unwritten  law  that  will  visit  with 
popular  execration  and  denunciation  the  man  who  seeks 
to  establish  the  domination  of  a  party  at  the  cost  of  the 
peace  and  security  and  welfare  of  the  entire  American 
people." 

Nothing  more  strongly  marks  the  extent  to  which 
men's  minds  have  been  warped  by  the  principles  and 
practice  of  the  party  in  power,  than  the  way  in  which 
they  have  learned  to  look  upon  the  government  as  some 
thing  above  them  to  control  them  and  dictate  to  them, 
instead  of  a  body  of  public  servants  of  their  own  crea 
tion,  with  strictly  limited  powers  and  responsible  for 
their  use.  On  this  point  Mr.  Bayard  touched  in  his 
speech  of  May  4, 1872,  on  the  bill  "  to  secure  equal  rights 
in  the  schools  of  Washington  and  Georgetown." 

u  This  bill,"  he  remarks,  "  would  not  be  complete  at 
the  present  time  if  it  did  not  contain  some  portion  of  that 
coercive  disposition  which  seems  to  mark  so  unhappily 
the  legislation  of  this  country  for  the  last  twelve  years. 
The  idea  that  this  is  a  voluntary  government  sustained 


98  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

by  the  people  because  they  love  it,  the  laws  executed 
because  they  represent  the  will  of  the  people,  seems  to 
be  nearly  passed  out  of  sight.  There  seems  to  be  now 
no  law  that  shall  speak  to  the  people  by  its  own  voice  and 
by  its  own  majesty,  relying  upon  their  ready  assent  to  it 
because  it  is  the  law.  No,  sir,  there  must  be  a  penalty ; 
there  must  be  something  to  drive  them  to  obey  ;  and 
such  seems  to  me  to  be  the  unhappy  feature  in  almost 
every  public  law  that  is  now  proposed.  There  is  no 
longer  trust  in  the  desire  of  the  people  to  execute  the  laws 
of  their  own  free  will ;  but  you  seem  to  rely  only  upon 
the  fact  that  they  are  to  be  scourged  with  fines  and  penal 
ties,  and  driven  to  the  work  which  can  never  be  so  well 
performed  as  when  the  heart  shall  dictate  the  act  which 
the  hand  performs.  Congress  has  been  so  in  the  habit  of 
driving  and  coercing  the  people  of  this  country,  that  it 
seems  to  me  now  that  they  have  taken  up  that  as  the 
ruling  principle  of  mere  despotism  in  regard  to  every  act 
of  Congress,  no  longer  trusting  upon  the  hearty  loyal 
wish  of  the  people  themselves  to  carry  into  effect  volun 
tarily  the  laws  which  their  representatives  have  made, 
and  which,  if  wise,  would  commend  themselves  without 
recourse  to  penal  threats.  ...  I  have  seen  too  often  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  relying  much  more  upon 
the  force  they  could  bring  to  execute  a  law,  than  upon 
the  moral  sentiment  of  the  community  that  they  would 
obey  it  because  it  was  the  law.  I  long  for  the  day  when 
this  coercive  tone  shall  be  silenced.  I  long  for  the  day 
when  the  real  wishes  and  the  happiness  of  the  people  of 
this  country — 'the  consent  of  the  governed' — shall  be 
the  underlying  principle  of  every  act  of  legislation." 

In  the  same  spirit  when  he  was  denouncing  the  inter 
ference  of  Congress  to  frustrate  the  popular  will  in  Mis- 


THE   UNION   AND   THE   CONSTITUTION.  99 

sissippi,  and  one  of  the  advocates  of  that  measure  suggest 
ed  that  there  might  be  a  reversal  of  parties  in  Delaware, 
he  flung  back  with  scorn  the  covert  implication.  "  It  may 
occur,"  he  ^aid,  "  but  God  forbid  that,  when  my  people 
shall  express  their  opinion  against  me  and  my  party  at 
the  ballot-box,  I  should  come  here  and  ask  Congress  to 
revolutionize  any  State  government  for  the  sake  of  giv 
ing  me  party  advantage  !  " 

This  is  the  ground-tone  that  runs  through  all  Mr. 
Bayard's  speeches.  Open  them  where  you  will,  you  will 
find  the  faithful  watchman's  cry  announcing  danger,  even 
though  it  should  fall  upon  heedless  ears.  The  usurpations 
of  power,  and,  what  was  still  worse,  the  growing  public 
indifference  to  those  usurpations  ;  cynical  disregard  of 
the  most  solemn  obligations  and  plighted  faith ;  the  sys 
tematic  adoption  of  a  policy  of  chronic  mistrust  diversi 
fied  by  paroxysms  of  active  hatred — these  were  the  poi 
sons  that  were  tainting  the  blood  of  the  whole  country. 
His  reiterated  appeals  for  a  return  of  good  feeling  were 
not  a  sentimental  eirenicon,  an  entreaty  to  forgive  and 
forget.  They  rested  upon  far  deeper  grounds  ;  upon  the 
knowledge  that  what  harmed  one  part  of  the  country  was 
harmful  to  all ;  that  a  blow  that  pierced  South  Carolina 
wounded  Massachusetts ;  that  the  South  could  not  be 
deadly  sick  and  the  North  long  remain  sound.  Yet  these 
views  were  sneered  at  as  old-fashioned,  the  exploded  doc 
trines  of  a  by-gone  age,  by  men  who  were  incapable  of 
looking  beyond  party  advantage  or  seeing  that  he  was  in 
truth  defending  the  real  interests  of  their  constituents  far 
better  than  they  were  themselves.  They  were  old-fash 
ioned  doctrines,  no  doubt ;  they  were  as  old-fashioned  as 
the  Constitution  and  the  fathers  that  framed  it ;  nay,  they 
were  of  an  older  fashion  still,  of  the  old  fashion  of  truth, 


100  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

honesty,  and  kindness,  before  hatred  struck  the  first  blow 
and  insolently  asked,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper? " 

Of  a  truth,  in  no  other  way  can  the  country  be  saved 
from  ever-recurring  perils,  and  the  general  prosperity 
planted  upon  a  firm  foundation,  but  by  going  back  to 
fundamental  principles.  The  war  has  changed  much, 
and  we  all  accept  its  changes ;  but  it  has  not  changed 
these.  We  can,  if  we  please,  stand  where  our  fathers 
stood  in  1787,  differing  in  opinion,  but  all  striving  for 
the  good  of  the  whole.  The  cry  "  Let  us  have  peace," 
though  uttered  by  one  who  brought  not  peace  but  a 
sword,  finds  now  as  then  an  echo  in  every  honest  heart. 
Let  us  have  men  in  power  who  will  once  more  look  to 
the  good  of  the  whole  country,  instead  of  bounding  their 
low  ambitions  by  a  party  triumph  ;  let  us  have  men  who 
regard  obligations,  who  will  keep  and  enforce  good  faith, 
and  once  more  bring  back  integrity  where  it  has  been  so 
long  a  stranger,  and  set  in  themselves  an  example  of  the 
doctrines  they  preach ;  men  who  see  no  difference  in 
morality  between  a  public  and  a  private  obligation ; 
whose  hands  are  uncontaminated  with  bribes,  whether  of 
the  grosser  sort,  or  that  subtler  kind  which  appears  on 
no  check-book  or  ledger ;  whose  principles  have  not 
varied  to  suit  the  exigencies  of  the  hour,  but  have  been 
always  the  same  from  first  to  last. 

These  are  the  principles  that  have  guided  Thomas  F. 
Bayard  through  all  his  public  career,  not  only  when  in  a 
feeble  minority,  but  when  the  tide  of  public  opinion  had 
turned.  Through  all  the  storms,  the  confusions,  the 
uncertainties,  the  ever-shifting  changes  of  the  last  eleven 
years,  the  eyes  of  both  friends  and  foes  have  turned  to 
him,  knowing  that  he  would  be  found  erect  as  a  tower 

"  That  stands  four-square  to  all  the  winds  that  blow." 


CHAPTER   VII. 

1  I.NANCE    AND    THE   CURRENCY. 

AT  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  when  many  thought,  and 
the  Administration  professed  to  think,  that  it  would  be 
of  but  short  duration,  it  was  believed  that  the  necessary 
expenses  might  be  met  by  an  issue  of  convertible  treasury 
notes  and  a  loan  for  their  redemption,  without  the  neces 
sity  of  resorting  to  extraordinary  means.  "When,  how 
ever,  events  showed  that  the  war  was  about  to  assume 
gigantic  proportions,  and  might  be  of  indefinite  duration, 
it  was  plainly  necessary  to  make  provision  for  enormous 
expense.  There  were  two  ways  of  doing  this :  one  by 
increasing  taxation  so  as  to  pay  for  the  war  as  it  went  on ; 
the  other,  to  carry  on  the  war  on  long  credit,  and  lay  the 
burden  of  the  debt  on  future  generations.*  The  former 
would  have  been  the  fairer  way ;  and  men  well  versed  in 
finance  and  acquainted  with  the  country's  resources  be 
lieved  that  it  could  be  done.  But  the  administration  was 
afraid  to  risk  the  heavy  taxation  that  such  a  course  would 
have  required  ;  they  knew  how  much  more  terrible  seems 
a  near  than  a  distant  evil,  and  they  believed  that  the  peo 
ple  would  rather  mortgage  their  future  prosperity  than 
pinch  and  economize  to'pay  heavy  taxes.  So  one  make- 

*  "  The  extension  of  the  debt  over  future  generations  "  was  actually 
urged  as  one  of  the  soundest  features  of  the  policy  adopted,  by  one  of  the 
senators  from  Massachusetts. 


102  LIFE   OF  TIIOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

shift  was  tried,  and  then  another,  until  in  February,  1862, 
the  legal-tender  bill  was  signed,  and  the  country  was 
flooded  with  "  greenbacks,"  made  by  law  a  tender  for  all 
dues  except  duties  on  imports  and  interest  on  the  public 
debt. 

That  this  law  was  unconstitutional  was  maintained  by 
the  conservatives,  and  afterward  decided  by  a  majority  of 
as  able  judges  as  ever  sat  upon  the  Supreme  bench,  with 
Chief  Justice  Salmon  P.  Chase  at  their  head.  That  it 
was  impotent  for  good  and  very  powerful  for  evil,  any 
tyro  in  finance  could  see.  It  is  perfectly  plain  that  no  act 
of  Congress,  no  royal  edict  or  imperial  rescript  can  ever 
give  value  to  anything  whatever,  though  it  may  compel 
men  to  accept  it  as  value.  The  sole  value  of  the  green 
back  consisted  in  its  being  a  promise  to  pay,  as  its  face 
expressed.  If,  instead  of  the  words,  "  the  United  States 
will  pay,"  it  had  read,  "  the  United  States  wrill  not  pay," 
no  power  upon  earth  could  have  forced  it  into  circula 
tion.  Had  it  been  redeemable  on  demand  in  specie,  of 
course  it  would  always  have  been  at  par ;  but,  as  it  was, 
three  elements  of  uncertainty  entered  into  the  estimate 
of  its  value :  would  it  ever  be  redeemed  ?  how  would  it 
be  redeemed  ?  when  would  it  be  redeemed  ? — and  as  the 
possibilities  or  probabilities  in  these  respects  varied  from 
day  to  day,  so  did  the  purchasing  power  of  the  greenback, 
compared  with  the  steady  value  of  gold.  By  a  fallacy 
like  that  which  makes  us  say  the  sun  rises  and  sets, 
whereas  it  is  the  earth  that  moves,  men  talked  of  the  rise 
of  gold  while  it  was  really  the  paper  currency  that  was 
falling.  Had  gold  really  risen  §  ten  per  cent,  compared 
with  other  values,  all  the  precious  metals  of  the  world 
would  have  flowed  into  America ;  as  it  was,  long  before 
gold  had  "  risen,"  as  it  was  called,  to  200,  every  ounce  of 


FINANCE   AND   THE   CURRENCY.  103 

specie  had  either  fled  from  the  country  or  disappeared 
from  circulation.  A  certain  portion,  diverted  from  its 
legitimate  purposes,  ran  round  and  round  in  a  charmed 
circle,  from  the  treasury  to  the  bondholder,  from  him  to 
the  importer,  and  from  the  latter  to  the  treasury  again, 
and  it  was  made  the  basis  of  colossal  gambling  on  the 
stock  exchange  ;  but  as  a  circulating  medium  it  no  longer 
existed. 

Of  course,  all  who  made  contracts  under  the  new  order 
of  things  regulated  their  prices  by  the  existing  value  of 
the  currency,  and  the  probabilities  of  its  rise  or  fall ;  and 
in  this  way  the  whole  business  of  the  country  was  dragged, 
perforce,  into  the  vortex  of  speculation.  The  United 
States  treasury — that  is,  the  money  of  the  whole  people 
entrusted  to  certain  public  servants  for  special  purposes — 
had  to  pay  the  constantly  rising  market  rates  for  its  enor 
mous  expenditure,  and  this  increasing  drain  was  met  by 
new  issues  and  new  expedients,  still  further  increasing 
the  volume  of  the  public  indebtedness,  and,  as  a  natural 
consequence,  lowering  the  value  of  the  public  promises. 

It  was  for  a  while  the  fashion  to  talk  about  the  green 
back  having  "  saved  the  country  "  ;  but  no  greater  folly 
could  be  uttered.  What  brought  the  war  to  a  successful 
close  was  the  unshakable  faith  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
people  in  their  final  success,  and  in  the  ultimate  good  faith 
of  the  government.  In  fact,  the  legal-tender  act  was  a 
blow  to  the  public  credit,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  it 
amounted  to  an  official  declaration  that  the  people  had 
not  faith  in  the  ability  or  the  purpose  of  the  government 
to  meet  its  obligations ;  and  as  such  it  was  answered  by 
the  immediate  stoppage  of  the  sales  of  bonds  abroad. 
And  "  yet  the  financial  interests  of  a  great  nation  for  an 
indefinite  future  were  staked  upon  a  desperate  resource, 


104  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

to  tide  over  a  temporary  exigency.  When  the  lessons  of 
history  were  quoted,  they  were  answered  by  the  flag  and 
eagle.  When  caution  was  urged,  in  view  of  possible 
future  exigencies,  it  was  answered  by  prophecies  of  mili 
tary  success  and  denunciations  of  rebels.  When  the  need 
of  deliberation  was  urged,  it  was  answered  by  clamor  in 
regard  to  the  necessities  of  the  government.  When  it 
was  said  that  irredeemable  paper  had  always  wrought 
ruin,  it  was  answered  that  our  resources  were  unlimited, 
and  that  these  precedents  did  not  make  a  rule  for  us. 
When  it  was  prophesied  that  the  paper  would  depreciate, 
and  that  we  should  not  be  able  to  retrace  our  steps,  the 
prophets  of  evil  were  indignantly  pointed  to  the  '  pledged 
faith'  of  the  United  States,  and  asked  if  they  thought 
that  would  be  violated.  The  inference  that  the  notes 
must  be  made  legal-tender  because  the  government  needed 
money  was  never  analysed,  and  its  fallacy  never  shown. 
The  question  whether  it  is  necessary  to  issue  legal-tender 
notes  is  a  question  not  of  law,  but  of  political  economy ; 
and  political  economy  emphatically  declares  that  it  never 
can  be  necessary.  The  proposition  involves  an  absurdity. 
Whatever  strength  a  nation  has  is  weakened  by  issuing 
legal-tender  notes."* 

A  provision,  however,  was  made  for  the  redemption 
of  these  notes  by  the  funding  system ;  that  is,  the  hold 
ers  could  buy  United  States  bonds,  bearing  interest,  and 
redeemable  within  a  certain  time.  It  was  the  conversion 
of  one  form  of  debt  into  another  form  ;  more  burdensome 
on  the  country,  since  it  bore  interest,  but  of  a  sounder 
character,  since  a  time  for  redemption  was  fixed.  Into 
the  various  issues  of  these  and  the  way  they  were  "  floated  " 

*  "  A  History  of  American  Currency."    By  Prof.  Sumner,  of  Yale  College, 
pp.  201-2. 


FINANCE   AND   THE  CURRENCY.  1Q5 

by  selling  at  par  in  a  depreciated  currency,  so  that  the 
country  was  pledged  to  pay  from  a  dollar  and  a  half  to 
two  dollars  for  every  dollar  received,  besides  interest  in 
gold,  and  all  the  ingenious  devices  by  which  the  market 
was  "  rigged,"  and  the  overburdened  public  dragged 
deeper  and  deeper  into  debt,  it  is  needless  to  enter  here. 
Take  one  example,  a  sale  under  the  nine  hundred  million 
loan  act : 

"  Gold  being  at  1-10-150,  that  is,  the  paper  dollar 
worth  G5  or  70  cents,  75,000,000  ten-forties  [loan  redeem 
able  after  ten  years,  interest  to  cease  after  forty  years] 
were  taken  at  about  par  at  six  per  cent.  The  Secretary 
was  now  led  to  try  the  ten-forties  at  five  per  cent.,  but 
the  currency  wras  not  sufficiently  depreciated  to  float  them 
at  or  near  par,  and  they  were  not  taken.  He  then  used 
his  alternatives,  issuing  175  millions  one  and  two  years 
treasury  notes.  Gold  rose  to  200-220,  or  above,  making 
the  paper  worth  45  or  50  cents,  at  which  point  the  five 
per  cent,  ten-forties  floated."  * 

That  is,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  guardian 
of  the  public  money  and  the  public  credit,  purposely 
depreciated  the  value  of  the  currency  by  lowering  the 
general  trust  in  the  public  faith,  in  order  that  he  might 
entail  upon  the  people  of  the  United  States  a  debt  of  two 
dollars  and  interest  thereon  for  every  dollar  received. 
Nor  is  this  said  b}T  way  of  reflecting  upon  the  character 
of  Secretary  Chase ;  but  to  show  to  what  desperate  ex 
pedients  even  honorable  men  were  driven  by  the  false 
and  ruinous  policy  that  had  been  so  recklessly  adopted. 

The  disease,  bad  enough  in  itself,  was  rendered  much 
worse  by  extravagant  inflation,  or  an  increase  of  the  vol 
ume  of  the  currency  beyond  the  needs  of  legitimate  trade. 

*  Sumner,  p.  207. 


106  LIFE  OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

Of  course  wlien  two  dollars  had  only  the  purchasing 
power  of  one,  it  took  twice  the  amount  of  currency  to 
carry  on  the  business  of  the  country.  The  larger  figures 
looked  like  larger  values,  the  scarcity  of  gold  increased 
the  foreign  exports,  the  lavish  expenditures  of  the  war 
stimulated  nearly  all  branches  of  trade,  the  rapid  fluctu 
ations  in  prices  fostered  wild  speculation,  and  the  people, 
deceived  by  a  fallacious  show  of  prosperity,  demanded 
more  money. 

Thus  the  disease  produced  the  morbid  craving,  and 
the  indulgence  of  the  craving  aggravated  the  disease.  To 
complicate  the  situation  further,  the  national  bank  sys 
tem,  then  an  untried  experiment,  was  established,  and 
the  old  State  banks  taxed,  for  the  most  part,  out  of  ex 
istence. 

At  the  end  of  the  war,  in  October,  1865,  the  total 
debt  of  the  country  was  $2,808,000,000  ;  the  total  cur 
rency,  $704,000,000.  Under  the  management  of  Secre 
tary  McCulloch  the  process  of  contraction — that  is,  of 
liquidating  that  part  of  the  public  debt  that  was  repre 
sented  by  the  greenbacks — was  begun,  but  it  was  in  part 
neutralized  by  the  increased  issues  of  national  bank  notes. 
This  retirement  of  the  notes  was  kept  up  until  January, 
1868,  by  which  time  $44,000,000  had  been  retired,  and 
the  amount  in  circulation  reduced  to  $356,000,000,  the 
national  bank  circulation  being  then  about  $295,000,000. 
At  this  point  Congress  stepped  in  and  stopped  their  fur 
ther  retirement. 

The  resolution  of  Congress  had  called  for  the  "  retire 
ment  and  cancellation  "  of  these  notes ;  but,  though  re 
tired,  they  were  not  canceled,  for  in  the  fall  of  1872 
Secretary  Boutwell  re-issued  $5,000,000  of  them,  which 
Congress  afterward  called  in  again.  In  the  next  year 


FINANCE   AND   THE   CURRENCY.  107 

Secretary  Richardson  again  re-issued  $20,000,000  of  these 
"  retired  and  canceled "  notes,  and  Congress  legalized 
the  proceeding.  The  volume  of  legal-tender  currency 
was  now  within  §8,000,000  of  what  it  had  been  ten  years 
before.  The  resumption  act  of  January,  1875,  redeem 
ing  80  per  cent,  of  United  States  notes  for  every  $100 
issued  to  the  banks,  brought  down  the  legal-tenders  to 
$347,000,000 ;  but  the  act  of  May,  1878,  stopped  further 
contraction  by  requiring  the  re-issue  of  the  redeemed 
notes.  Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  action  of  the  gov 
ernment  in  regard  to  the  legal-tenders. 

On  March  15,  18G9,  a  House  bill,  called  «  a  bill  to 
strengthen  public  credit,"  was  introduced  into  the  Senate. 
It  began  with  the  preamble  :  "  That,  in  order  to  remove 
doubt  as  to  the  purpose  of  the  government  to  discharge 
all  just  obligations  to  the  public  creditors,  and  to  settle 
conflicting  questions  and  interpretations  of  the  laws  by 
virtue  of  which  such  obligations  have  been  contracted, 
It  is  hereby  provided  and  declared  that  the  faith  of  the 
United  States  is  solemnly  pledged  to  the  payment  in  coin, 
or  its  equivalent,  of  all  the  obligations  of  the  United 
States,"  etc. 

On  this  bill  Mr.  Bayard  made  his  first  speech  of  any 
kind  in  the  Senate,  and  we  cite  his  remarks  at  some 
length,  as  they  give  the  keynote  to  his  constant  financial 
policy :  "  The  title  of  this  bill  [which  had  been  amended] 
now  reads,  '  A  bill  to  strengthen  the  public  credit.'  Its 
title  so  far  is  a  challenge  to  American  respect.  But  do 
the  object  and  effect  of  the  bill  upon  examination  bear 
out  the  high-sounding  phrases  of  itj,  title  ?  I  apprehend 
not.  Is  this  bill  to  have  the  effect  'to  strengthen  the 
public  credit'  in  reality?  What  is  our  public  credit? 
The  confidence  of  the  public  that  the  government  of  the 


108  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

United  States  will  thoroughly  fulfill  all  its  obligations  in 
their  letter  and  their  spirit.  That  is  our  credit. 

"Now,  sir,  to  obtain  and  justify  this  confidence,  I 
know  of  no  royal  road.  I  never  have  been  able  to  under 
stand  the  difference  between  the  principle  that  should  be 
applied  to  the  honest  extinguishment  of  a  private  debt 
and  a  public  debt.  I  take  it  they  both  rest  upon  the  same 
sound  principle,  and  they  must  both  be  treated,  if  treated 
honorably,  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  effect. 
The  payment,  in  my  opinion,  of  any  debt,  public  or  pri 
vate,  is  a  mere  combined  question  of  ability  and  integrity. 
Every  law,  therefore,  that  we  may  pass  which  shall  have 
a  tendency  to  increase  our  ability  to  pay  our  public 
obligations  will  strengthen,  in  fact,  our  public  credit. 
Therefore,  every  act  of  economy,  every  act  of  retrench 
ment,  is  an  act  of  this  character,  and  I  will  most  cheer 
fully  vote  for  it  upon  all  occasions  when  I  have  the  op 
portunity.  More  than  that,  sir,  every  act  which  tends  to 
create  popular  confidence  in  the  permanence  of  our  gov 
ernment  is  an  act  of  this  character.  Every  act  which 
tends  to  restore  order  and  regularity  to  our  proceedings, 
and  to  distribute  governmental  powers  in  accordance  with 
the  intent  of  the  character  of  our  government,  is  of  this 
character.  .  .  . 

"  But,  sir,  this  act  professes  to  be  a  declaratory  act. 
The  language  of  it  is  that  it  is  intended  to  '  settle  conflict 
ing  questions,  and  interpretations  of  the  law,'  in  virtue  of 
which  certain  obligations  of  the  United  States  were  in 
curred.  Now,  I  invite  the  attention  of  honorable  sen 
ators  to  this  fact :  something  is  due  to  our  own  character, 
and  the  character  of  our  body.  Each  bill  should  do  in 
substance  that  which  upon  its  face  it  professes.  If  any 
thing  would  be  derogatory  to,  and  tend  to  weaken  the 


FI. VANCE   AND   TIIE   CURRENCY.  109 

character  and  credit  of,  the  United  States,  it  would  be 
that  under  the  guise  of  one  measure  you  seek  indirectly 
to  accomplish  something  that  you  dare  not  place  fully 
on  its  face.  If  this  act,  however,  called  merely  a  declara 
tory  act,  be  intended  in  any  degree  to  add  any  new  stipu 
lations  of  an  obligatory  character  upon  the  government 
of  the  United  States ;  if  it  be  intended,  either  expressly 
or  by  any  implication  of  the  present  law,  to  give  any  new 
right  of  action  in  claims  of  the  public  creditors  under  the 
law  under  which  these  obligations  were  issued,  then  I  pro 
test  against  its  passage  as  being  fraudulent  upon  its  face, 
and  untrue;  and  I  claim  that  if  such  an  intent  is  to 
be  urged  hereafter,  directly  or  indirectly,  let  our  action 
appear,  that  men  may  clearly  know  what  it  is  they  vote 
for." 

The  speaker  then  proceeded  to  show  the  nature  and 
origin  of  declaratory  acts,  which  had  their  rise  under  the 
English  system  of  government,  and  were  intended  to  pre 
serve  the  traditions  of  an  unwritten  law,  but  were  not 
germane  to  the  government  and  lawTs  of  the  United  States. 
After  briefly  touching  upon  some  of  the  possible  results 
of  the  passage  of  this  bill,  he  continued  :  "  I  do  not,  how 
ever,  propose  at  this  time  to  make  any  extended  remarks 
upon  that  which  lies  in  the  future.  <  Sufficient  for  the 
day  is  the  evil  thereof ' — sufficient  for  me  it  is  in  con 
sidering  this  bill  to  find  it  in  a  shape  that  I  can  not  give 
my  approval  to,  because  it  transgresses  that  which  was 
always  with  me,  and  I  trust  ever  will  be,  the  rule  of  my 
action  in  treating  upon  governmental  matters.  It  is  an 
attempt  by  Congress  to  invade  the  prerogatives  of  another 
branch  of  the  federal  government,  and  I  believe  that  I 
can  strengthen  my  government  no  better  than  by  keep 
ing  the  proper  departments  each  within  its  proper  sphere. 


110  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

Our  danger  at  this  time  is  that  men  lose  sight,  it  seems 
to  me,  of  the  dividing  lines  of  power ;  that  there  are  de 
partments  in  public  justice,  and  that  if  those  departments 
are  over-ridden,  if  those  barriers  are  broken  down,  con 
fusion  will  come,  the  first  name  of  which  confusion  will 
be,  perhaps,  an  elective  despotism,  and  the  word  'an 
archy  '  will  come  in  soon  after.  .  .  . 

"  While  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  support  the  amend 
ment  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky "  [that 
the  just  and  equitable  measure  of  the  obligation  of  the 
United  States  upon  their  outstanding  bonds  ...  is  the 
value  at  the  time  in  gold  and  silver  of  the  paper  currency 
paid  to  the  government  on  those  bonds],  I  can  not  vote 
for  the  bill  in  its  present  shape,  for  I  think  it  can  not 
have  any  effect  to  strengthen  the  public  credit ;  but  I 
think  it  may  have  this  effect,  in  regard  to  which  I  either 
feel  indifferent  or  hostile — it  may  temporarily  innate  the 
bonds  of  the  United  States  government,  but  for  what 
good  end  ?  Is  the  legislation  of  this  country  to  become 
a  matter  for  the  use  of  speculators  ?  Already  the  crea 
tion  of  your  so-called  lawful  money  of  paper  has  given 
rise  to  an  elasticity  of  business  which  has  destroyed 
credit,  which  is  making  everything  in  the  country  purely 
speculative  ;  and  I  am  not  disposed  to  dignify  such  a 
mere  stock-jobbing  result  as  the  temporary  puffing  of 
these  bonds  into  an  increased  price  as  worthy  of  an  act 
of  Congress,  or  of  anything  that  we  should  give  our  as 
sent  to. 

"  Then,  if  it  is  supposed  that  by  raising  these  bonds  in 
their  value  temporarily  you  may  induce  a  larger  portion 
to  be  held  by  foreign  holders,  to  that  I  say,  as  at  present 
advised,  I  can  not  give  my  assent  or  approval.  As  this 
debt  is  to  be  paid,  and  as  it  is  to  be  paid  with  such  enor- 


FIX  ANTE   AND   THE   CURREXCY.  HI 

mous  interest  upon  it  in  tins  other  lawful  money  so 
superior  in  value  to  the  paper  which  bore  that  name ;  if 
the  people  of  the  country  are  to  pay  the  interest,  I  wish 
that  it  should  be  paid  to  our  own  fellow  citizens,  and  not  to 
persons  who  reside  abroad.  The  strange  paradox  seems 
to  have  pervaded  men's  minds  at  the  present  time  that 
the  greater  a  man's  debt,  the  richer  he  is ;  and  that  the 
more  the  bonds  of  the  government  could  be  held  abroad, 
so  much  greater  the  proof  that  we  were  a  prosperous,  a 
rich,  and  a  great  nation.  I  can  not  so  consider  it.  Look 
at  the  great  debt  of  England,  not,  proportionate  to  the 
amount  of  accumulated  capital,  or  to  the  amount  of  in 
terest  paid,  one  half  as  great  as  our  own ;  those  who  are 
fond  of  citing  that  as  an  illustration  of  our  consolidated 
ability  to  meet  it,  should  remember  that  there  ran  always 
with  it  the  proposition  that  it  was  mainly  held  within  the 
British  empire ;  in  other  words,  that,  if  the  people  of 
England  were  taxed  to  pay  this  heavy  debt,  the  people  of 
England  received  the  benefit.  So,  if  our  country  is  to  be 
tuxed  to  pay  this  debt,  and  to  be  taxed  to  pay  the  interest 
upon  it,  let  us,  at  least,  if  it  can  be  so  arranged,  see  to  it 
that  our  own  people  shall  get  the  benefit  of  the  great  sacri 
fices  which  will  be  necessary  to  be  undergone  by  the  Ameri 
can  people  in  order  to  meet  this  debt  in  any  proper  and 
reputable  shape.  Therefore,  sir,  while  I  am  not,  and  never 
propose  to  be,  interested  in  puffing  the  price  of  United 
States  bonds  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  foreign  demand, 
and  creating  a  still  greater  outflow  of  gold  into  foreign 
countries  from  the  hard-wrong  toil  and  labor  of  my  coun 
trymen,  for  that  reason,  if  for  no  other,  should  I  withhold 
my  assent  to  this  bill." 

The  bill  passed  the  same  day,  Senators  Uaynrd,  Car 
penter,  Casserly,  Cole,  Davis,  Morton,  Osborn,  Rice,  Reve, 


112  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 

Spencer,  Stockton,  Thurman,  and  Yickers  voting  in  the 
negative. 

Yery  wisely  did  Mr.  Bayard  suspect  this  act  with  its 
specious  title.  And  how  was  its  promise  fulfilled  ?  The 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  instead  of  redeeming  the  green 
backs,  and  so  restoring  public  credit  and  specie  payments 
at  once,  employed  the  gold  at  his  command  by  selling  it 
and  buying  up  with  the  proceeds  bonds  not  due  at  a  high 
premium,  and  leaving  the  currency  as  it  was,  thus  giving 
a  splendid  profit  to  the  bondholders,  while  the  masses 
were  suffering  all  the  evils  of  an  inflated  currency.  And 
this  masterly  policy  was  pursued  until  1874.  No  legisla 
tion  could  strengthen  public  credit  while  it  rested  upon 
such  foundations.  To  quote  Mr.  Bayard's  words,  "  it  was 
not  only  a  house  built  upon  sand,  but  it  was  a  house  of 
straw  built  upon  sand ;  there  was  neither  substance  above 
nor  below,  and  no  human  ingenuity  could  give  it  perma 
nent  stability  or  safety." 

No  doubt  the  great  masses  of  the  Republican  party 
were  as  sincerely  anxious  for  the  prosperity  of  the  coun 
try  as  were  the  Democrats.  But  they  had  suffered  them 
selves  to  be  deluded  by  unwise  or  selfish  leaders,  and  had 
committed  the  fatal  error  of  disregarding  and  loosely  in 
terpreting  the  Constitution.  Had  they  held  fast  to  that 
and  rigidly  adhered  to  its  limitations,  they  would  never 
have  fallen  into  these  errors ;  but,  in  that  case,  they 
would  not  have  been  the  Republican  party.  The  Con 
stitution  gave  no  power  to  Congress  .to  make  paper 
a  legal  tender  ;  but  that  was  over-ridden  on  the  plea 
of  military  necessity.  The  Constitution  straitly  limited 
and  defined  the  powers  of  every  branch  of  the  federal 
government ;  but,  under  a  Republican  administration, 
the  legislative  usurped  the  powers  of  the  judiciary,  or 


FIXANCE   AND   THE   CURRENCY.  113 

the  executive  of  either,  upon  any  plea  that  was  con 
venient  for  the  moment.  The  Constitution  carefully  spe 
cified  the  powers  of  the  federal  government,  declaring 
all  others  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  the 
people ;  but  now  the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  the 
people  of  the  States  were  invaded  by  legislative  enact 
ment,  by  executive  action,  by  military  force,  without 
any  plea  whatever. 

The  party  in  power  had  so  overwhelming  a  majority 
in  both  Houses  that  they  were  at  no  pains  to  conceal  the 
cardinal  principles  of  their  legislation,  and  occasionally 
avowed  them  with  an  effrontery  almost  cynical.  In 
March,  1869,  Senator  Sprague  introduced  a  "bill  for 
loaning  the  public  money,"  and  providing  for  a  "  United 
States  council  of  finance,"  with  a  commissioner,  deputy 
commissioner,  auditor,  and  twenty-four  councillors,  all  sal 
aried,  to  do  a  grand  bill-discounting  business  with  the 
public  money,  all  the  while  that  the  people  were  groan 
ing  under  the  interest  on  the  public  debt.  That  the  Unit 
ed  States  should  turn  money-lender  and  note-shaver  was 
bad  enough  ;  but  that  it  should  do  this  on  a  capital  of  its 
own  unpaid  promissory  notes  wras  something  stupendous. 
But  the  cream  of  the  wThole  business  lay  in  the  brief  re 
marks  with  which  the  Senator  introduced  it.  He  said, 
"  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  this  bill. 
In  my  judgment  it  will  perpetuate  the  power  and  the  ex 
istence  of  the  Republican  party  for  twenty  years.  Then 
it  will  put  out  of  existence  great  bankers,  great  traders, 
great  shipmasters,  great  manufacturers,  great  telegraph, 
railroad,  and  other  corporations."  That  is,  it  would  ruin 
the  great  productive  industries  of  the  country.  That  was 
one  thing.  And  it  would  keep  the  Republican  party  in 
power  for  twenty  years.  That  was  another  thing.  And 


114  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

these  two  considerations,  lie  thought,  ought  to  recommend 
it  to  the  majority  in  the  Senate. 

The  brain  grows  dizzy  in  attempting  to  follow  all  the 
schemes  and  devices  proposed  in  Congress  in  regard  to 
currency  and  finance.  To  change  one  form  of  debt  into 
another  form  of  debt,  with  a  provision  for  its  possible 
conversion  into  a  third  form  ;  to  make  one  kind  of  bond 
acceptable  because  it  was  long,  and  another  because  it 
was  short;  to  devise  some  super-dexterous  juggling  by 
means  of  which  capitalists  could  be  inveigled  into  lend 
ing  their  money  at  less  than  the  market  value ;  to  pro 
pose,  with  a  grand  flourish  about  honest  payment,  the 
redemption  of  one  kind  of  currency,  with  the  condition 
that  it  should  be  replaced  by  an  equal  or  greater  amount 
of  another  kind  of  currency  just  as  irredeemable — these 
were  some  of  the  expedients  proposed,  instead  of  the 
simple,  straightforward  plan  of  paying  off  the  debt  as  fast 
as  it  could  be  paid,  and  in  that  way  bringing  the  notes  to 
par,  which  was  all  that  was  needed.  ]STo  words  can  de 
scribe  the  chaotic  character  of  the  debates  on  this  subject. 
Everybody  had  his  grand  nostrum  for  doing  by  not 
doing,  and  for  attaining  something  by  striving  for  just 
the  opposite ;  and  speaker  after  speaker  arose,  with  his 
sheets  of  carefully  arranged  figures,  and,  after  a  flour 
ish  about  the  public  credit,  proceeded,  according  to 
the  measure  of  his  abilities,  to  stretch  out  the  line  of 
confusion  in  theory,  and  lay  the  stones  of  emptiness  in 
practice. 

Conspicuous  among  these  darkeners  of  counsel  was 
Mr.  Sherman,  in  whose  dexterous  hands  facts  and  figures 
were  like  cards  in  those  of  Robert  Houdin,  multiplying 
or  diminishing  at  his  will,  coming  no  one  knew  whence, 
and  vanishing  no  one  knew  whither.  In  March,  1870, 


FINANCE   AND   THE   CURRENCY.  115 

lie  introduced  his  grand  funding  bill,  "  to  authorize  the 
funding  and  consolidation  of  the  national  debt,  to  extend 
banking  facilities,  and  to  establish  specie  payments."  Of 
course,  it  provided  for  an  issue — they  all  provided  for  an 
issue  of  something  or  other,  either  of  more  paper,  or  an 
other  sort  of  paper  into  which  the  old  sorts  were  convert 
ible  (and  the  bankers  and  brokers  made  a  pretty  penny 
by  all  this  converting  and  reconverting ;  but  this  by  the 
way).  It  provided  for  an  issue,  of  course,  and  this  it 
was :  the  government  (to  establish  specie  payments)  was 
to  issue  not  more  than  §400,000,000  in  5  per  cent,  bonds, 
fifteen-forties,  and  not  more  than  §400,000,000  in  4 
per  cent,  bonds,  twenty-forties,  these  last  to  be  sold  to 
national  banks,  formed  or  to  be  formed,  as  a  basis  for 
further  extension  of  their  circulation.  Here  was  a  way 
indeed  "  to  establish  specie  payments  "  ! 

Mr.  Bayard  opposed  the  scheme  in  his  speech  of  March 
7th.  He  showed  the  evils  under  which  the  country  was 
laboring,  and  the  real  cause — "  It  was  chiefly  because,  de 
parting  from  all  our  traditions,  from  the  principles  of 
finance  stamped  indelibly  upon  our  written  Constitution, 
in  spite  of  the  warnings  of  every  generation  of  our  states 
men  from  the  formation  of  our  government  until  the 
present  time,  the  Republican  majority  of  Congress  in  1862 
resorted  to  issues  of  paper  money  to  sustain  public  credit. 
They  created  a  money  of  credit  which  had  no  intrinsic 
value.  It  was  a  blunder  in  finance,  which,  as  the  witty 
Frenchman  said,  was  <  worse  than  a  crime.'  It  did  more 
to  place  the  laboring  masses  of  this  country  in  the  hands 
of  capitalists  than  all  your  other  measures  combined.  It 
unsettled  values  by  destroying  the  only  standard  of  value. 
You  might  as  well  have  repealed  all  laws  for  the  regula 
tion  of  weights  and  measures.  It  placed  a  strip  of  india- 
6 


116  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

rubber  in  lieu  of  the  yard-stick,  and  jugglers'  bottles  in 
place  of  fixed  measures  or  quantities. 

"  This  was  not  done  without  debate,  or  heedlessly. 
The  evils  of  this  system  had  all  been  foretold.  But  party 
power  was  dearer  to  the  majority  of  that  Congress  than 
public  faith.  The  founders  of  our  government  had  suf 
fered  bitterly  from  the  use  of  paper  money.  The  system 
had  proved  its  falsehood  and  its  perfect  worthlessness  in 
our  war  of  independence.  If  any  man  doubts  this,  let 
him  read  the  debates  of  the  convention  which  formed  the 
Federal  Constitution,  and  his  doubts  must  be  all  re 
moved  ;  and  the  lessons  so  taught  us  by  the  sages  of  1787 
had  been  repeated  by  our  \visest  and  best  men  in  every 
generation  since. 

"  It  has  been  owing  to  the  disregard  of  the  lessons 
and  warnings,  and  by  direct,  flagrant  violation  by  the 
Republican  party  of  the  provisions  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution,  that  our  people  groan  to-day  under  at  least 
$900,000,000  of  the  present  debt ;  and  this  is  a  moderate 
estimate  of  the  cost  to  us  of  the  paper-money  issue.  The 
most  reasonable  and  reliable  calculation  I  have  yet  seen 
places  sixty-six  and  two-thirds  cents  on  the  dollar  as  the 
average  sum  received  for  our  present  federal  securities." 

He  disdains  to  enter  upon  the  idle  and  endless  task  of 
untangling  the  maze  of  figure  and  calculations  which  had 
been  prepared  and  propounded  to  prove  that  not  doing  a 
thing  was  the  same  thing  as  doing  it,  and  that  increasing 
a  debt  was  the  way  to  pay  it,  and  strikes  at  once  at  the 
root  of  the  matter. 

"  My  proposition  respecting  the  funding  of  this  na 
tional  debt,  desirable  as  I  think  it  for  the  purpose  of  di 
minishing  the  large  rate  of  interest  we  now  pay,  is  this : 
that  we  must  postpone  any  such  measure  until  we  shall 


FINANCE    AND   THE   CURRENCY.  H7 

have  reached  a  real  basis  of  value  for  our  currency,  when 
we  shall  have  a  constitutional  currency  of  coined  money 
of  value  to  rest  our  debt  upon  before  we  talk  of  funding 
it.  So  long  as  our  basis  of  currency  is  one  of  credit  only, 
without  intrinsic  value,  just  so  long  uncertainties  and 
fluctuations  will  distress  the  land  and  disturb  all  legit 
imate  business.  Let  us  resume  specie  payments  before 
we  offer  new  loans." 

And  he  concludes  that  the  only  honest  and  feasible 
plan  is  u  to  go  back  until  our  feet  rest  once  more  upon  the 
solid  rock  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  The  currency  of 
the  country  is  a  matter  of  enormous  importance,  and  that 
currency  can  not,  in  my  belief,  be  lawfully  or  safely  any 
thing  else  than  a  currency  of  value — the  gold  and  silver 
coin  directed  by  the  Constitution." 

It  would  be  wearisome  and  unprofitable  to  follow  up 
all  the  devious  courses  and  analyse  the  patent  nostrums 
of  the  Republican  financiers  of  those  days.  Against  all 
these  tricks  and  devices  Mr.  Bayard  steadily  set  his  face 
and  recorded  his  vote.  When,  in  December,  1873,  Mr. 
Sherman  was  pressing  a  bill  providing  for  national  banks 
without  circulation,  Mr.  Bayard  opposed  it,  asking  where 
Congress  got  the  power  to  multiply  indefinitely  banks  of 
deposit.  "  It  was  far  better,"  he  said,  "  to  go  back  to  the 
great  principles  of  finance,  as  in  all  other  questions  of 
government,  of  letting  the  people  of  the  locality,  through 
the  exercise  of  local  self-government,  remedy  the  evils 
under  which  they  suffer  by  the  light  of  their  own  expe 
rience."  "I  am  strongly  in  favor  of  disconnecting  the 
banking  system  of  the  country  from  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States.  I  do  not  believe  that  one  helps  the  other." 

In  the  minority  resolution  offered  by  him  on  De 
cember  15,  1873,  he  gives  his  view  of  the  one  duty 


118  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

of  Congress,  in  the  matter  of  the  public  finance,  in 
few  words : 

"  Whereas,  a  just  regard  for  the  interests  of  every 
class  of  the  community  demands  that  the  national  basis 
of  finance  shall  consist  of  a  uniform  standard  and  intrinsic 
value ;  therefore — 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Finance  be,  and 
they  are  hereby,  instructed  to  report  to  the  Senate  meas 
ures  which  will  secure,  at  the  earliest  practicable  day,  a 
return  to  specie  payments." 

"A  uniform  standard,"  not  two  weights  and  two 
measures,  nor  the  "  strip  of  india-rubber "  ;  "  intrinsic 
value,"  not  "  fiat-money "  and  promises  not  to  pay,  not 
even  promises  to  pay,  as  a  basis ;  and  a  return  to  specie 
payments  as  soon  as  practicable.  This  was  his  and  the 
minority's  answer  to  Mr.  Sherman's  proposition  to  estab 
lish  a  currency  "  adjusted  to  meet  the  changing  wants  of 
trade  and  commerce."  His  views  on  the  subject  and  his 
suggestions  for  a  practicable  way  of  gaining  the  end  de 
sired  will  be  given  elsewhere ;  but  this,  in  brief,  was  Mr. 
Bayard's  position  first,  last,  and  all  the  time.  When  some 
of  the  Democratic  leaders,  forgetting  the  true  principles 
of  their  party,  became  greenbackers  and  inflationists,  they 
left  him  standing  where  he  had  always  stood,  on  the  firm 
foundation  of  honest  payment  of  debts  in  honest  money, 
and  as  soon  as  it  could  be  done. 

When  we  remember  that  the  bonds  of  the  United 
States  had  been  bought  at  far  less  than  their  gold  value, 
and  that  Mr.  Bayard  himself  never  owned  a  single  bond 
or  a  single  share  of  bank-stock,  one  might  have  supposed 
that  his  sympathies  with  the  bondholders  and  the  banks 
would  not  be  strong.  But  his  sympathies  with  justice 
and  honesty  are  more  than  a  principle — they  are  part  of 


FINANCE  AND   THE  CURRENCY.  119 

his  very  being ;  and,  on  the  question  of  making  the  de 
based  silver  dollar  a  lawful  tender  for  all  amounts,  he 
pleads  the  cause  of  the  banks  and  the  bondholders  as  if 
he  were  one  of  them,  for  there  it  is  the  cause  of  right,  of 
good  faith,  and  of  the  whole  people.  He,  never  himself 
a  capitalist,  becomes  the  earnest  defender  of  capital  when 
it  is  proposed  to  wrong  capital,  or  to  defame  it  as  if  it 
were  the  enemy,  instead  of  the  ally,  of  industry.  In  his 
speech  of  February  4,  1878,  he  says:  " Let  it  not  be  for 
gotten  that  the  banking  capital  of  the  United  States  to-day 
almost  wholly,  with  the  rare  exception  of  State  banks  of 
discount  and  deposit  here  and  there,  is  based  upon  the 
bonds  and  credit  of  the  United  States  government.  The 
stock  of  the  banks  of  course  depends  upon  the  security 
of  the  bonds.  It  does  not  stop  there.  The  business  of 
the  country,  the  accommodation  to  the  borrowers,  all  the 
circulation,  lias  this  ultimate  dependence  upon  the  credit 
of  the  bonds  wlucli  lie  at  the  foundation  of  security  for 
every  bank  in  the  country.  You  can  not  strike  down  that 
interest  without  striking  men  who  never  saw  a  bond,  who 
never  owned  a  bond,  of  the  United  States  government. 

"  If  a  bank  is  crippled,  can  it  continue  accommoda 
tions  ?  And,  if  it  can  not,  who  shall  suffer  ?  If  stringency 
and  distrust  shall  mark  at  once  our  business,  who  shall 
suffer?  The  men  engaged  in  business,  and  not  simply 
the  banks,  which  are  the  instruments  and  the  instrumen 
talities  for  distribution  and  discount  and  of  currency. 
Oh,  no,  sir.  A  blow  so  blindly  leveled  will  reach  objects 
it  never  was  intended  to  strike ;  it  will  prostrate  interests 
of  which  we  now  can  have  but  slight  comprehension. 
For  better  or  for  worse,  the  fate  of  the  banking  capital  of 
the  country  is  rooted  in  the  prosperity  of  the  communities 
in  which  the  banks  are  organized." 


120  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 

And  a  little  further  on  :  "  What  is  capital  ?  It  is  but 
the  accumulation  of  labor.  The  very  highest  instincts  of 
humanity  are  exercised  in  procuring  and  amassing  it.  It 
is  the  glory  of  our  institutions,  and  nowhere  have  I  ever 
heard  that  more  resoundingly  pronounced  than  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate  that  the  institutions  of  this  country 
oiler  no  impediment  to  the  poor  man,  or  the  poor  man's 
son,  rising  to  place  and  power  and  property ;  that  all  the 
avenues  are  throwrn  open  to  him ;  and  does  not  this  sen 
ate  chamber  itself  proclaim  the  fact  ?  How  many  men 
who  hold  their  seats  here  to-day,  how  many  of  those  men 
who  have  held  seats  here  in  times  gone  by,  have  known 
youths  of  poverty  struggling  against  adverse  fortune,  and 
who  have  triumphed  and  gained  place  and  gained  fortune 
and  power  by  the  liberal,  generous,  equitable  institutions 
of  American  government !  Sir,  the  people  of  this  coun 
try  are  not  downtrodden.  The  history  of  this  country 
proves  by  the  men  who  have  been  your  presidents,  your 
rulers,  yes,  your  millionaires  to-day  are  men  who  started 
at  the  lowest  round  of  fortune's  ladder,  and  have  had 
their  upward  path  impeded  by  no  obstacle  whatever. 

"  Why,  sir,  there  is  not  an  apprentice  in  the  land  who 
does  not  hope  to  become  a  journeyman ;  there  is  not  a 
journeyman  in  the  land  who  has  not  his  visions  of  becom 
ing  an  employer  of  men ;  there  is  not  an  employer  of 
men  who  is  not  struggling  daily  to  better  his  condition, 
and  to  place  himself  in  a  position  of  independence  pecu 
niarily.  What  becomes  of  the  virtue  of  thrift  which  we 
so  commend— the  virtues  of  self-denial,  of  self-control, 
and  of  industry  ?  They  are  all  meant  for  one  purpose,  to 
lift  men  beyond  the  risk  of  temptation  and  place  them 
where  every  good  man  would  wish  to  be,  in  a  condition 
of  being  able  to  help  others  less  able  or  fortunate  than 


FINANCE   AND   THE  CURRENCY.  121 

himself.  The  man  who  overvalues  money  is  simply  un 
wise,  but  the  man  who  undervalues  it  can  not  be  said  to 
be  wiser." 

When  the  possibility  of  resumption  had  at  length  al 
most  been  reached,  we  find  him,  in  May,  1878,  resisting, 
with  all  his  energies,  the  act  to  forbid  the  further  retire 
ment  of  the  legal-tender  notes,  and  thus  turn  the  ship's 
course  away  from  the  land  that  was  just  in  sight.  In  his 
speech  on  that  occasion  he  reviewed  the  whole  subject, 
and  offered  an  amendment  that  the  notes  should  be  de 
prived  of  their  legal-tender  feature,  but  should  be  receiv 
able  for  all  dues  to  the  government  except  duties  on 
imports.  Those  duties  being  the  source  from  which  the 
treasury  received  gold  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  public 
debt,  cutting  off  that  source  would  compel  the  treasury 
to  purchase  gold  in  the  market,  whatever  the  premium, 
and  we  had  had  sad  experience  of  the  effects  of  that  kind 
of  finance.  With  the  notes  at  par  in  gold,  there  was  no 
conceivable  reason  why  they  should  not  be  retired,  or,  if 
desired  as  a  convenient  circulating  medium,  be  continued 
without  the  compulsory  clause,  and  standing  on  their  own 
merits  alone. 

His  latest  utterance  on  the  subject  is  found  in  his 
speech  of  January  27,  1880.  The  Senate,  having  under 
consideration  the  joint  resolution  in  relation  to  United 
States  treasury  notes,  the  minority  of  the  Committee  on 
Finance  submitted  the  following  recommendation  and 
resolution : 

"  The  undersigned,  believing  that  the  industrial,  commercial,  and 
financial  prosperity  of  a  country,  in  order  to  be  ensuring  and  se 
cure,  must  be  based  upon  a  money  of  actual  and  intrinsic  value,  and 
that  our  government  has  no  power  and  is  incompetent  to  endow  its 
paper  obligations  with  such  value,  and  the  United  States  Treasury 


122  LIFE    OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

notes  in  existence  and  in  circulation  being  now  redeemable  in  gold 
and  silver  coin  at  the  option  of  the  holder,  do  therefore  recommend 
the  withdrawal  of  the  present  compulsory  legal-tender  power  from 
such  treasury  notes  by  the  passage  of  the  subjoined  joint  resolution. 

"  T.  F.  BAYARD. 

"FRANCIS  KERNAN. 

"  Admitting  the  principle  of  the  resolution  as  to  the  power  of  the 
government  to  make  paper  legal-tender,  I  reserve  ray  action  upon 
the  resolution  as  to  the  time  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  power  given 

heretofore. 

"  WILLIAM  A.  WALLACE. 

"  Reserving  the  right  of  amendment. 

"JUSTIN  MORRILL. 

[Jciiit  resolution  in  relation  to  United  States  notes.] 

"Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled.  That  from  and 
after  the  passage  of  this  resolution  all  United  States  notes  shall  be 
receivable  for  all  dues  to  the  United  States  excepting  duties  on  im 
ports,  and  shall  not  be  otherwise  a  legal  tender ;  and  any  of  said 
notes  hereafter  reissued  shall  bear  this  superscription." 

Mr.  BAYARD  :  "  Mr.  President,  my  object  in  urging 
the  adoption  of  the  present  resolution  is  to  bring  about 
an  actual  resumption  of  specie  payments.  Whatever  else 
may  be  effected  by  this  resolution  is  secondary,  and  merely 
incidental  to  this  one  cardinal  object. 

"  I  ardently  desire  the  prosperity  of  my  country ;  I 
wish  it  to  endure,  and  I  know  that  to  be  permanent  it 
must  rest  upon  a  sound  basis,  and  I  know  that  a  sound 
currency  is  essential,  and  that  real  money  is  the  only 
basis  of  a  sound  currency. 

"  I  have  said  that  I  desire  to  effect  a  real  resumption 
of  specie  payments,  for  I  do  not  believe  wrhat  is  at  present 
called  resumption  is  real  or  reliable,  because,  although 
since  January  1,  1879,  United  States  notes  are  redeem 
able  in  coin  at  the  office  of  the  assistant  treasurer  of  the 


FINANCE   AND   THE   CURRENCY.  123 

United  States  in  New  York  city ;  yet,  by  the  act  of  May 
31,  1878, 

"  '  when  any  of  said  notes  may  be  redeemed  or  be  received  into  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  they  shall  not  be  retired,  cancelled 
or  destroyed,  but  they  shall  be  reissued  and  paid  out  again  and  kept 
in  circulation ; ' 

"so  that  while  there  is  a  resumption  of  payment  in  specie, 
it  is  neutralized  in  all  its  resumptive  effects  by  the  imme 
diate  reissue  of  the  notes  just  redeemed.  To  ' resume' 
by  such  a  delusive  process  is  as  idle  as  to  bail  water  with 
a  sieve. 

"  I  am  for  actual  resumption  and  a  restoration  of  real 
money  in  place  of  any  substitute  therefor,  unless  such 
substitute  is  voluntarily  agreed  upon  by  the  parties  to 
any  contract.  Plainly,  then,  this  resolution  is  intended 
to  secure  the  resumption  of  a  standard  of  value — based 
upon  value,  and  not  upon  mere  credit. 

"It  is  not  intended  to  destroy  the  convenience  and 
assistance  of  the  present  paper  currency ;  but,  as  that 
paper  rests  upon  the  credit  that  it  is  convertible  into 
specie  and  will  be  paid,  so  do  I  feel  assured  that,  by  letting 
men  feel  a  confidence  that  a  stable  standard  is  ultimately 
to  measure  all  their  contracts,  they  will  naturally  feel 
safer  to  enter  into  contracts.  This  will  give  them  assurance 
that  the  lapse  of  time  will  not  bring  with  it  alterations 
in  the  basis  upon  which  their  agreements  were  formed. 
This  will  encourage  capital  to  embark  upon  enterprises 
which  will  give  employment  to  the  laboring  classes,  and 
will  insure  to  labor  an  honest  equivalent  for  every  hour 
of  toil.  Such,  I  believe,  will  be  a  part  and  a  part  only  of 
the  benefits  to  flow  from  the  adoption  of  this  resolution. 

u  Mr.  President,  I  would  pause  here,  and  ask  the  con 
sideration  of  the  Senate  to  a  confusion  of  terms,  which  I 


LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

am  sure  has  led  to  a  great  confusion  in  thought,  in  deal 
ing  with  this  subject.  It  is  unfortunate  that  notes  should 
be  called  i  money,'  as  it  tends  to  produce  confusion  and 
injustice ;  at  best,  notes  are  a  promise,  and,  until  that 
promise  is  paid  in  money,  it  is  unperformed. 

"When  power  was  given  to  Congress  'to  borrow 
money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States,'  the  words 
had  a  definite  meaning :  not  to  borrow  evidences  of  debt, 
but  to  give  their  evidences  of  debt  for  money.  The  issue 
of  the  notes  was  a  proof  that  the  government  had  no 
money ;  that  they  thought  it  unadvisable  to  tax  the  peo 
ple  to  obtain  it ;  and,  therefore,  the  United  States  notes 
were  merely  instruments  of  the  government  to  obtain 
supplies  to  carry  on  the  war  without  paying  for  them. 

"  The  very  issue  of  these  notes  was  a  confession  that 
the  government  had  no  money.  To  make  them  circulate 
in  the  place  of  money,  and  enable  the  holders  to  get  rid  of 
them,  they  made  them  at  first  convertible  into  the  interest- 
bearing  obligations  of  the  government,  and  created  them 
a  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and  private.  And  let 
it  here  be  noted  that  making  notes  legal  tender  does  not 
oblige  any  man  to  sell  his  property  for  such  notes ;  it 
only  compels  him  to  receive  them  for  a  debt  then  due. 
In  other  words,  legal  tender  is  a  debt-paying  power,  but 
can  never  be  made  a  debt-contracting  power;  and  no 
amount  of  tyrannical  force  in  the  history  of  the  world 
has  ever  been  able  to  accomplish  this  last.  To  define 
the  difference  between  money  and  its  substitute,  I  will 
accept  the  definition  of  Lord  Liverpool,  in  his  famous 
report  upon  the  coins  of  the  realm  of  Great  Britain : 

" '  The  money  or  coin  of  a  country  is  the  standard 
measure  by  which  the  value  of  all  things,  bought  and 
sold,  is  regulated  and  ascertained ;  and  it  is  itself,  at  the 


FINANCE   AND   TIIE   CURRENCY.  125 

same  time,  the  value  or  equivalent  for  which  goods  are 
exchanged,  and  in  which  contracts  are  generally  made 
payable.' 

"Paper  currency,  in  all  its  forms,  bills  of  exchange, 
promissory  notes,  bank  bills,  all  are  useful  auxiliaries  of 
money,  but  are  evidences  of  debt,  and  not  of  wealth,  and 
possess  no  inherent  value. 


"In  no  civilized  country  can  all  the  exchanges  of 
property  be  carried  on  by  the  agency  of  coin  alone. 

"  Paper  notes  are  an  essential  auxiliary  to  coin,  but 
never  let  it  be  forgotten,  they  are  not  coin — are  not 
money — but  are  substitutes  for  it.  They  are  not  actual 
payments,  but  promises  to  pay — evidences  of  debt  which 
the  law  will  enforce — and  do  not  give  value  for  value  ; 
and  their  acceptance  must  be  based  on  their  credit,  on 
their  convenience,  and  be  always  voluntary  in  order  to 
be  safe. 

"  When  a  paper  note,  an  evidence  of  debt,  is  made  a 
compulsory  tender  in  payment  of  a  debt — the  great  law 
of  honesty — the  great  law  of  money — that  value  is  to  be 
given  for  value,  is  broken  and  disregarded. 

"  Mr.  President,  we  have  heard  in  this  chamber  allu 
sions  somewhat  vague,  but  none  the  less  alarming,  to  an 
unseen,  undefined,  but  terrible,  '  money  power.' 

"  What  is  meant  by  these  ominous  warnings  against 
this  invisible,  intangible,  immeasurable  power? 

"  What  is  meant  is,  I  suppose,  the  power  of  capital. 

"  How  shall  the  law  deal  with  it  ? 

"  Capital  is  the  result  of  labor  and  frugality ;  it  is  by 
the  virtues  of  thrift,  economy,  and  self-denial,  working 
under  the  instruction  of  intelligence  and  enlightened  self- 


126  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

interest,  that  capital  is  first  created,  and  then  accumu 
lated. 

"  Wealth  and  property  of  all  descriptions  are  but  forms 
of  capital.  Encouragement  is  given  by  the  institutions 
of  property,  by  the  creation  of  government,  by  the  enact 
ment  of  laws,  to  induce  men  to  exercise  their  faculties  to 
gain  wealth.  Is  all  this  founded  upon  fallacy  and  wrong  ? 
Is  there  to  be  discrimination,  suspicion,  and  assault  visited 
upon  those  individuals  of  society  who  have  been  more 
successful  than  others  in  the  accumulation  of  property  ? 
Is  it  not  <  money  power '  that  enables  a  poor  laborer  to 
become  the  owner  of  the  pick-ax  or  shovel  with  which 
he  prosecutes  his  daily  task  ?  Is  it  not  '  money  power ' 
that  enables  him  to  procure  a  wheelbarrow  ?  Is  it  not 
6  money  power '  that  enables  his  savings  of  a  year's 
labor,  temperance,  and  frugality  to  give  him  the  means 
to  purchase  a  horse  and  cart  ?  Is  it  not  i  money  power ' 
that  enables  him  to  educate  his  children  and  fit  them  for 
an  improved  condition  in  life?  Is  it  not  the  same 
(  money  power '  that  crowns  his  life  of  honesty,  sobriety, 
and  industry  with  an  old  age  of  comfort  and  respecta 
bility  3 

"  Such,  sir,  are  the  humble,  but  honorable  and  useful, 
careers  that  America  offers  to  the  poor  of  all  lands ;  and, 
of  all  institutions  to  secure  such  results,  a  money  having 
real  value  is  the  chief,  because  it  is  the  true  and  only 
road  by  which  the  laborer  honestly  becomes  the  capital 
ist.  .  .  . 

"  The  issue  of  these  United  States  notes  was,  until  these 
later  days  of  *  greenback '  finance,  always  stated  to  be  '  a 
war  measure,'  growing  out  of  the  exigencies  of  the  times, 
and  to  be  ended  just  so  soon  as  peace  was  restored. 

"  In  his  annual  report  of  18G2,  Secretary  Chase  said  : 


FINANCE   AND   THE   CURRENCY.  127 

"'The  recommendations  now  submitted  of  the  limited  issue  of 
United  States  notes  as  a  wise  expedient  for  the  present  time  .  .  .  are 
prompted  by  no  favor  to  excessive  issues  of  any  description  of  credit 
moneys;  .  .  .  for,  just  so  soon  as  victory  shall  restore  peace,  the  am 
ple  revenue  already  secured  by  wise  legislation  will  enable  the  gov 
ernment  through  advantageous  purchases  of  specie  to  replace  at  once 
large  amounts,  and  at  no  distant  day  the  whole  of  this  circulation 
by  coin,  without  detriment  to  any  interest,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
with  great  and  manifest  benefit  to  all  interests.  The  Secretary 
recommends  therefore  no  mere  paper- money  scheme,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  a  series  of  measures  looking  to  a  safe  and  gradual  return 
to  gold  and  silver  as  the  only  permanent  basis,  standard,  and  mea 
sure  of  values  recognized  by  the  Constitution.' 

"  The  language  of  Secretary  McCulloch,  in  1865, 1  have 
read  already  to  the  same  effect,  and  the  '  cordial  concur 
rence'  of  Congress.  To  this  I  could  add  abundant 
proofs  from  the  debates,  and  from  the  valuable  •  Finan 
cial  History  of  the  War,'  by  Mr.  Spaulding,  to  show  that 
the  issue  of  treasury  notes  was  at  no  time  intended  as  a 
permanent  measure  with  or  without  legal-tender  power. 

"  The  peace  looked  forward  to  by  Secretary  Chase  came 
three  years  after  he  wrote  the  words  I  have  read,  and 
fifteen  years  have  passed  since  the  war  ended,  and  yet  we 
find  this  measure  of  confessed  temporary  expediency  still 
in  force,  and  by  many  urged  to  be  continued  in  perpe- 
tuum.  And  senators  say  l  these  notes  are  now  at  par — 
are  redeemable  by  the  government  at -the  will  of  the 
holder  in  gold  and  silver  coin.'  '  Therefore  let  well 
alone,'  and  '  it  is  inexpedient '  to  do  anything  now  to 
make  resumption  permanent  and  fix  gold  and  silver  as 
the  only  basis,  standard,  and  measure  of  values  recognized 
by  the  Constitution.  The  proposition  to  restore  our  con 
stitutional  and  safe  basis  of  value  for  all  money  is  called 
'  tinkering  with  the  finances.'  To  this  complexion  have 
we  come — that  a  proposition  to  adopt  measures  of  admit- 


128  MFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ted  safety  and  wisdom  to  secure  a  permanent  prosperity 
is  called  i  tinkering  with  the  finances.' 

"  Mr.  President,  such  a  condition  of  sentiment  alarms 
me,  and  only  causes  me  to  be  more  vigorous  in  my  efforts 
to  secure  my  countrymen  against  such  manifest  dangers. 

"  When  I  see  error  so  supported,  my  efforts  will  be  re 
doubled  to  defend  the  country  against  it — to  warn  my  asso 
ciates  here,  and  my  countrymen  everywhere,  against  the 
seductions  of  false  measures  of  finance  and  the  necessity 
of  securing  a  sound  basis  for  their  business  prosperity. 

"  This  assumed  legal-tender  power  is  like  the  germ  of  a 
deadly  fever,  that  needs  only  the  heat  of  excitement,  of 
speculation,  of  war,  or  of  distress  to  develop  its  deadly 
powers  ;  and  it  is  while  it  is  dormant  that  I  would  put  an 
end  to  its  existence.  .  .  . 

"  The  stock  of  gold  and  silver  in  this  country  was  never 
so  large  as  it  is  to-day. 

"  The  report  of  the  director  of  the  mint  informs  us  the 
amount  of  coin  and  bullion  in  the  country,  on  Octo 
ber  31,  1879,  was,  of  gold,  $355,681,532,  and  of  silver, 
$126,009,537 ;  making  a  total  of  $481,691,069.  And  he 
says :  '  Should  the  unprecedented  flow  of  gold  continue 
from  foreign  countries  unchecked  by  its  reaction  upon 
prices  here  and  abroad,  the  metallic  circulation  of  the 
country  at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  (June  30,  1880) 
will  have  swollen  to  over  $600,000,000. 

"  Wisely  appreciating  this  high  tide  of  opportunity,  the 
banks  are  converting  their  reserves  into  coin  ;  and  a  table 
furnished  me  by  the  Comptroller  of  the  Currency  will 
show  that  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  reserves  of 
the  banks  (which  are  largely  in  excess  of  legal  require 
ment)  consist  to-day  of  coin. 

"  Mr.  President,  centralization  of  power  in  any  govern- 


FINANCE   AND   THE   CURRENCY.  129 

ment  is  to  be  dreaded.  Under  it  '  the  individual  with 
ers,'  and  local  self  government,  in  which  are  grown  the 
seeds  of  hardy,  self-reliant  virtues  and  capacities,  is  de 
stroyed.  If  this  be  true  of  other  governments  and  peo 
ples,  how  especially  true  of  our  own,  where  a  territory  so 
vast,  embracing  populations  so  heterogeneous  in  race, 
pursuits,  and  traditions,  are  brought  into  a  union  under  a 
single  Constitution,  which  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 
The  gradual  absorption  of  jurisdiction  by  the  general 
government  in  so  many  ways  during  the  past  fifteen  years, 
its  invasion  of  the  domain  of  the  States,  its  interference 
with  subjects  and  matters  so  essentially  proper  for  local 
cognizance  and  control,  have  justly  alarmed  those  who 
have  at  heart  the  preservation  of  the  Union  under  our 
federal  theory  and  constitutional  government. 

"  I  believe  this  recognition  is  widespread,  and  the  ne 
cessity  admitted  of  a  re-diffusion  and  re-distribution  of 
powers  which,  in  the  emergencies  and  heat  of  civil  war, 
have  been  unduly  absorbed  by  the  national  government. 
Let  us  call  to  mind  the  legend  upon  our  national  seal, 
'  E pluribus  unum ' — that  the  States  form  a  union  l  out 
of  many' — not  a  unit.  But  let  me  ask,  what  act  of 
centralization  is  so  potent  or  in  any  degree  equals  that 
which  assumes  to  create  values  by  the  fiat  of  Congress, 
and  compels  such  values  to  be  accepted  as  an  equivalent 
for  any  indebtedness  ?  In  my  view,  all  other  steps  to 
centralization  are  as  nothing  compared  to  this. 

"  Ten  years  ago  I  endeavored  in  vain  to  impress  this 
Senate  with  the  manifest  and  paramount  duty  of  restoring 
and  establishing  a  sound  currency,  a  real  money  of  daily 
measure  of  all  contracts. 

"  In  a  speech  made  by  me  March  7,  1870,  on  the  fund 
ing  bill,  I  endeavored  to  show  how  much  more  pressing 


130  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

and  important  was  the  need  of  a  sound  foundation  for  all 
contracts  than  a  prepayment  and  refunding  of  our  bonds 
not  due. 

"  But  my  efforts  were  in  vain,  and  the  deplorable  policy 
inaugurated  by  Mr.  Boutwell  in  his  administration  of  the 
treasury  was  continued.  From  1869  to  1875  the  sale  of 
nearly  $500,000,000  of  gold  coin  received  from  customs 
duties  and  its  investment  in  United  States  bonds  at  high 
premiums  was  continued,  and  all  that  time  the  currency 
was  suffered  to  stand  unredeemed,  and  no  step  taken  to 
resume  specie  payment.  Such  a  policy  precluded  re 
sumption,  and  to  it  I  attribute  in  a  large  degree  the  suf 
ferings  which  followed  the  crash  of  1873. 

"  What  I  have  said  to-day  is  little  more  than  repetition 
of  what  I  have  been  moved  to  say  more  than  once  before, 
in  regard  to  which  I  have  been  vindicated  by  events. 

"I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  to  explain  why  the  resolu 
tion  before  the  Senate  does  not  allow  the  United  States 
notes  to  be  received  '  for  duties  on  imports  or  interest  on 
the  public  debt.' 

"  By  the  act  of  February  25,  1862,  under  which  the 
first  issue  of  these  notes  was  authorized,  it  was,  in  section 
1,  expressly  provided  that — 

"  '  Notes  herein  authorized  shall  be  receivable  in  payment  of  all 
taxes,  internal  duties,  excises,  debts,  and  demands  of  every  kind  due 
to  the  United  States  except  duties  on  imports,  and  of  all  claims  and 
demands  against  the  United  States  of  every  kind  whatsoever  except 
for  interest  upon  bonds  and  notes,  which  shall  be  paid  in  coin,  etc.' 

"  And  by  section  5  of  the  same  act  it  was  provided : 

u  '  SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  duties  on  imported 
goods  shall  be  paid  in  coin,  or  in  notes  payable  on  demand  hereto 
fore  authorized  to  bo  issued  and  by  law  receivable  in  payment  of 


FINANCE  AND   THE   CURRENCY.  131 

• 

public  dues,  and  the  coin  so  paid  shall  be  set  apart  as  a  special  fund, 
and  shall  be  applied  as  follows : 

4  First.  To  the  payment  in  coin  of  the  interest  on  the  bonds  and 
notes  of  the  United  States. 

*  Second.  To  the  purchase  or  payment  of  1  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
debt  of  the  United  States,  to  be  made  within  each  fiscal  year  after 
the  first  day  of  July,  1862,  which  is  to  be  set  apart  as  a  sinking  fund, 
and  the  interest  of  which  shall  in  like  manner  be  applied  to  the  pur 
chase  or  payment  of  the  public  debt  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury  shall  from  time  to  time  direct. 

4  Third.  The  residue  thereof  to  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States.' 

"  I  am  unable  to  construe  this  law  otherwise  than  as  a 
distinct  restriction  of  the  notes — that  they  should  never 
be  receivable  for  duties  on  imports — and  coupled  with  it 
the  distinct  pledge  that  these  duties  shall  be  paid  in  coin, 
and  be  '  set  apart  as  a  special  fund '  for  the  security  of 
the  interest  on  the  public  debt.  It  was,  in  my  judgment, 
unwise  and  derogatory  to  a  government  like  our  own  thus 
to  '  put  in  pledge '  any  one  of  its  sources  of  revenue  spe 
cially — it  savored  too  much  of  pawnbrokerage — but  it  was 
nevertheless  done,  and  the  contract  made  by  the  author 
ized  agents  of  the  American  people.  It  may  seem  useless, 
now  that  credit  is  established  and  the  bonds  above  par, 
when  they  have  been  called  in  and  exchanged,  that  this 
law  should  be  enforced ;  but  the  law  of  1862  has  never 
been  repealed,  but  stood  in  full  force  as  the  utterance  of 
the  government  when  the  new  bonds  went  out  in  place 
of  old  ones,  and  the  inscription  on  the  notes  is  the  same 
as  it  originally  was.  I  propose  to  be  strict  in  the  per 
formance  of  public  obligations,  because  we  can  not  infuse 
the  spirit  of  honor  and  good  faith,  nay,  uberrima  fides, 
too  much  into  our  public  acts.  It  was  for  the  security  of 
the  holders  of  our  public  obligations  that  these  pledges 
were  made,  and  they  alone  can  release  us  from  them. 


132  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

"  It  may  seem  now  a  useless  formality  to  pay  at  the 
custom-house  to  the  government  the  gold  and  silver  coin 
we  have  drawn  from  its  treasury  on  its  own  notes,  but  it 
is  a  formality  carried  out  in  a  spirit  of  exact  performance 
of  a  contract,  and  that  alone  makes  it  dignified  and  proper. 

"  Mr.  President,  at  much  greater  length  than  I  desired 
I  have  expressed  my  reasons  for  urging  the  adoption  of 
this  resolution,  and,  in  concluding,  I  can  only  say  how 
incompetently  I  feel  I  have  dealt  with  a  great  subject, 
profoundly  affecting  the  happiness,  the  morals,  the  wel 
fare  of  our  country.  But  I  have,  at  least,  tried  to  treat 
the  question  in  a  worthy  spirit,  and  do  my  best  in  the 
service  of  truth  and  justice.  Whether  the  Senate  will 
concur  in  my  views  I  know  not,  for  a  subject  like  this 
has  never  been  and  will  never  be  made  by  me  a  subject 
of  party  caucus  or  personal  canvass  for  votes ;  but  I  be 
lieve  that  good  sense  and  right  feeling  are  permanent  and 
enduring  forces  in  American  politics,  and  in  that  faith  I 
shall  rely  upon  these  qualities  vindicating  themselves  in 
the  minds  of  my  countrymen  as  time  shall  pass  on. 

"  The  issue  is  nothing  less  than  whether  there  shall  be 
security  to  labor  for  its  savings,  to  thrift  and  industry  of 
their  just  results.  The  painful  earnings  of  daily  toil  and 
the  accumulated  wealth  of  generations  are  alike  involved, 
the  creation  of  property  by  labor  and  its  transmission  to 
posterity  are  all  alike  affected  by  what  I  have  proposed, 
and,  not  being  a  believer  in  congressional  alchemy,  I  ask 
that  we  now  abandon  any  further  attempts  to  make  it 
successful." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

TARIFF    AND    REVENUE    REFORM. 

WHEN  Senator  Bayard  first  came  into  Congress  the 
revenue  and  fiscal  service  of  the  country  was  one  of  the 
most  extortionate  and  oppressive  ever  recorded  in  history. 
It  rested  upon  favoritism  and  class  legislation,  yet,  a  few 
years  before  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  there  had  been 
extorted  from  the  country  some  $650,000,000  in  a  single 
year  by  those  questionable  modes  of  taxation.  The  in 
ternal  revenue  system  was  obstructive  and  inquisitorial. 
The  tariff  laid  duties  upon  some  four  thousand  articles, 
for  the  benefits  mainly  of  manufacturers  in  a  few  local 
ities  and  few  in  number.  Mr.  Bayard,  in  coming  to  Con 
gress,  could  truly  say  that  lie  had  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  enactment  and  the  perpetuation  of  this  disastrous  sys 
tem  ;  and  the  section  of  the  State  of  Delaware  from  which 
he  was  mainly  elected  was  much  more  interested  in  manu 
factures  than  in  agriculture.  Wilmington  is  in  many  re 
spects  an  offshoot  from  Philadelphia,  and  few  men  enter 
Congress  from  Philadelphia,  no  matter  what  may  be  their 
views  in  regard  to  federal  politics,  who  are  not  avowed 
and  active  and  serviceable  protectionists  in  regard  to  rev 
enue  matters.  In  this  respect  Democrats  and  Republi 
cans  have  equally  agreed,  and  the  policy  of  quieta  tutu 
movere  was  long  since  very  generally  accepted. 

Mr.  Bayard,  however,  was  a  Democrat  after  an  older 


134  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

and  better  order.  He  knew  how  the  country  was  suffer 
ing  in  consequence  of  these  oppressive  tax  laws,  and,  while 
he  heartily  sympathized  with  the  desire  of  his  fellow 
citizens  in  Wilmington  and  other  parts  of  the  country  to 
build  up,  extend,  and  diversify  their  industries,  he  did  not 
believe  they  should  be  permitted  to  do  this  at  the  expense 
of  the  whole  country.  He  saw,  moreover,  that,  under  the 
system  of  federal  taxation  for  purposes  of  internal  and 
customs  revenue,  the  burden  of  the  general  taxes  paid 
was  much  more  costly  even  to  the  manufacturers  of  Wil 
mington  than  the  specific  measure  of  protection  derived 
by  them  from  the  tariff.  The  system  gave  them  the 
chance  of  taking  in  two  cents  extra  in  the  shape  of  illicit 
profits,  but  compelled  them  to  pay  four  cents  in  extra  ex 
penses.  It  was  a  lottery,  in  which,  for  every  $100,000 
worth  of  prizes  awarded,  the  subscribers  paid  in  $200,000. 

Mr.  Bayard  was,  besides,  a  strict  constructionist  of  the 
Constitution,  and  he  did  not  believe  that  the  grant  of 
power  to  raise  revenue  conveyed  with  it  the  power  like 
wise  to  extend  "  protection."  He  did  not  believe  that  the 
power  of  Congress  to  derive  income  for  the  government 
upon  the  imports  of  iron  from  Cardiff  could  be  stretched 
into  a  power  to  prevent  these  imports  for  the  benefit  of 
forges  in  Pennsylvania,  so  that  every  buyer  of  iron,  in 
any  shape,  in  the  whole  country  through,  had  to  pay  these 
high  duties  to  the  home  manufacturer,  while  the  govern 
ment  derived  no  funds  at  all  from  the  duties  imposed  by 
it  to  bring  revenue  jn.  If  duties  could  be  laid  at  all  by 
government,  they  could  only  be  laid  for  revenue ;  and,  if 
they  did  not  result  in  revenue,  but,  instead  of  that,  in  tax 
ation  of  all  classes  for  the  benefit  of  one  class,  or  a  few 
classes,  they  were  unconstitutional,  and  should  be  repealed. 

There  can  be  no  mistake  in  regard  to  Mr.  Bayard's 


TARIFF  AND   REVENUE   REFORM.  135 

views  upon  such  matters.  He  believes  that  there  is  110 
power  under  the  Constitution  to  frame  tariffs  upon  this 
principle,  and  that  if  the  power  did  exist  it  would  be  in 
expedient  to  exercise  it.  "  I  need  scarcely  say  here,"  he 
remarked  in  connection  with  the  bill  providing  for  the 
Centennial  Exhibition,*  "  to  those  who  have  taken  the 
trouble  to  note  my  course  on  legislation,  that  I  am  a  strict 
constructionist  of  powers  under  the  Constitution.  I  be 
lieve  that  ours  is  a  government  only  of  special  and  enu 
merated  powers,  and  not  of  general  and  unlimited  pow 
ers  ;  but  I  am  unwilling  to  say  that  language  which  has 
been  placed  so  carefully,  not  simply  in  the  preamble  of 
the  Constitution,  but  carried  affirmatively  a  second  time 
into  the  very  enumeration  of  the  powers  delegated  to 
Congress,  was  placed  there  so  that  it  should  have  no  ef 
fect,  and  to  be  mere  idle  words  which  can  be  left  out  of 
consideration  at  will.  .  .  .  That  is  the  most  familiar,  and, 
in  my  opinion,  the  safest  principle  of  construction  of  the 
Constitution — expressum  facit  cessare  taciturn — that,  in 
construing  a  grant  of  express  power  in  the  Constitution, 
you  can  not  ingraft  upon  that  an  implied  power.  .  .  .  One 
of  the  troubles  of  our  times,"  Mr.  Bayard  said  in  another 
speech,!  "  is  that  so  many  well-meaning  and  respectable 
persons  consider  that  everything  that  is  right  in  itself 
should  necessarily  be  performed  by  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  forgetting  that  this  is  a  government  of 
limited,  enumerated,  and  delegated  powers,  and  that  the 
desirability  of  a  measure  is  no  test  whatever  of  the  right 
of  Congress  to  enact  it  into  a  law.  I  believe,  sir,  it  is  an 
indifference  to  this  truth,  and  it  is  a  disregard  of  this 
truth,  that  has  led  this  country  into  most  of  the  difficnl- 

*  February  26,  1874. 

f  Liquor  Traffic  Commission,  February  26,  1874. 


136  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 

ties  from  which  we  have  suffered  and  which  still  sur 
round  us." 

So,  in  regard  to  subsidies,  Mr.  Bayard  stands  upon  the 
general  idea,  and  demands  *  "  upon  what  principle,  except 
that  of  using  the  associated  powers  of  the  government  to 
interfere  with  competitors  and  certain  individual  enter 
prises,  can  you  bestow  bounties  upon  selected  individuals 
and  confine  those  bounties  to  favored  cases  ?  "  That  sen 
tence  embodies  in  a  nutshell  the  whole  proposition  in 
favor  of  protection,  and,  even  in  stating,  refutes  it,  not 
only  upon  the  issue  of  constitutionality,  but  upon  that  of 
good  policy  also.  For,  as  Mr.  Bayard  says  in  another 
part  of  this  same  speech,  "  There  are  other  reasons  why 
in  our  form  of  government  such  propositions  are  espe 
cially  dangerous  and  difficult.  In  the  past,  one  of  the 
great  difficulties  in  the  history  of  our  government  has 
been  the  prevention  of  local  jealousies  and  discontents 
proceeding  from  supposed  inequitable  and  unjust  adminis 
tration  of  government  favor.  The  expenditures  of  money 
in  one  part  of  this  country  or  the  other,  the  passage  of 
laws  that  were  supposed  to  work  favorably  to  one  section 
of  the  country  at  the  expense  of  the  other,  have  all  given 
rise  to  great  difficulties  in  the  past ;  and  no  wise  and  con 
siderate  legislator  but  will  appreciate  the  great  danger  of 
exercising  the  power  of  granting  government  aid  in  local 
enterprises — and  that  one  great  element  of  public  safety 
is  the  restriction  of  this  function  of  federal  power  to  the 
minimum  consistent  with  the  execution  of  the  essential 
powers  of  government.  What  is  this  principle  of  sub 
sidy  ?  It  is  the  assistance  from  tJie  public  treasury  to 
individual  enterprise  •  it  is  a  gratuity  from  the  public 
treasury  in  aid  of  a  private  undertaking  Communism, 
*  June  25,  1878,  Roach  Subsidy  Bill. 


TARIFF   AND    REVENUE   REFORM.  137 

as  I  understand  it,  is  the  principle  of  acting  through  the 
association  of  government  as  opposed  to  individual  com 
petition.  Under  governments  where  such  doctrine  does 
not  prevail,  individual  competition  is  left  to  stand  or  fall, 
according  to  its  own  merit,  energy,  or  force ;  but  where 
you  shall  array  the  associated  powers  of  the  government, 
and  make  them  the  controlling  element  of  every  enter 
prise,  you  have  what  is  termed  communism." 

It  must  be  understood,  however,  that  in  this  matter  of 
subsidy,  of  tariff,  as  likewise  in  the  kindred  subjects  of 
the  banks  and  the  entire  fiscal  system  of  the  government, 
Mr.  Bayard  is  a  reformer,  not  a  revolutionist.  There  are 
many  things,  the  result  of  Republican  misrule  and  of  the 
riot  of  unchecked  power  since  1861,  which  he  wants  to 
see  reconstructed  and  reformed.  But  it  is  part  of  this 
Senator's  well-balanced  and  conservative  instinct  that  he 
is  not  a  destructive  nor  an  obstructive  in  anything.  He 
does  not  wish  for  himself,  nor  does  he  encourage  or  coun 
tenance  his  party,  to  pull  down  anything  until  the  time  is 
ripe  to  substitute  something  better  in  its  place.  "  I  do  not 
favor  sudden  changes,"  said  he,  in  his  first  speech  on  the 
financial  question.*  "  Festina  lente  is  a  wise  maxim  for 
governments  as  well  as  individuals,  and  reforms  to  be 
wholesome  must  be  gradual.  This  is  one  of  the  sources 
of  the  strength  of  the  English  government,  from  whom  it 
is  wise  that  we  should  borrow  lessons  of  experience.  Their 
reforms  have  been  gradual  and  not  sudden,  so  that  the  peo 
ple  of  that  country  have  had  timely  warning  and  opportu 
nity  to  accommodate  their  affairs  to  meet  the  proposed 
alterations  in  the  governmental  system." 

He  knows  how  the  present  revenue  system  was  set  in 
motion  in  1861,  how  unjustly  and  invidiously,  with  what 

*  March  7,  1870. 


138  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.    BAYARD. 

midnight  haste  and  utter  disregard  of  all  propriety,  ad 
vantage  was  taken  of  the  secession  of  some  Southern 
States  and  the  consequent  defection  of  Southern  sena 
tors,*  to  hurry  through  a  bill  substituting  an  entirely  new 
tariff  system  for  that  which  had  been  maintained  by  so 
many  Democratic  administrations  to  the  material  benefit 
of  the  country.  He  knew  how  this  first  tariff  effort  of 
Mr.  Morrill  and  his  friends  had  been  retouched  and  ex 
panded  until  it  culminated  in  the  Morrill  tariffs  of  1865 
and  1866,  the  most  monstrous  revenue  system  ever  con 
trived  for  hampering  the  industries  of  an  enlightened 
people.  Mr.  Bayard  knew  how  the  people  were  op 
pressed  and  stifled  under  the  burdens  and  inequalities  of 
this  system.,  but  he  knew  also  that  under  it  industries  had 
sprung  into  existence,  capital  had  been  largely  invested 
and  labor  diverted  into  new  channels,  and  that  any  sud 
den  and  violent  changes  would  visit  complete,  irremedi 
able,  and  unmerited  disaster  upon  these.  He  knew, 
finally,  that  the  government  must  have  revenue,  and 
that,  to  obtain  this,  it  must,  in  part  at  least,  in  pursuance 
of  old  established  precedent,  continue  to  depend  upon 
that  form  of  indirect  taxation  known  as  tariff  duties — not 
abstractly  the  best  mode  of  impost,  but  that  which  people 
tolerate  with  the  least  complaint,  so  long  as  it  is  prudently 
and  fairly  levied.  Hence,  Mr.  Bayard  entered  the  Sen 
ate,  not  as  a  free-trader,  but  as  a  revenue  reformer,  an 
advocate  of  tariffs  so  far  as  needed  to  yield  necessary 
revenue,  but  no  further.  Taxation,  he  held,  was  a  neces 
sary  evil,  but  an  evil  still.  Therefore,  expenses  should 
be  reduced  to  their  minimum,  and  simplicity  and  econ 
omy  should  rule  in  every  department  of  the  government, 
in  order  to  keep  the  evil  of  taxation  down  to  its  mini- 

*  In  March,  1861.     • 


TARIFF  AND   REVENUE   REFORM.  139 

mum  likewise.  Revenue  reform,  in  Mr.  Bayard's  view, 
meant  three  very  essential  things  :  It  meant  the  defense 
of  the  people  from  an  oppressive  volume  of  tariff  taxes ; 
it  meant  their  further  protection  from  the  still  heavier 
burden  of  a  class  legislation  which,  while  it  produced 
one  dollar  to  the  government,  taxed  the  people  six  dol 
lars,  by  compelling  them  to  purchase  necessary  goods  and 
articles  from  favored  manufacturers,  whose  industries  had 
become  monopolies,  defended  by  act  of  Congress ;  and  it 
meant,  finally,  by  curtailing  revenue  and  expenditures, 
to  put  a  period  to  the  disgraces  of  official  corruption  and 
profligacy. 

Mr.  Bayard  was  never  doctrinaire,  but  always  practi 
cal  and  matter-of-fact  in  treating  these  important  ques 
tions.  He  asked  himself  in  regard  to  every  part  of  the 
revenue  system :  "  Does  the  Constitution  allow  it  ?  Is  it 
expedient  to  be  done  ?  Will  it  advance  the  public  inter 
ests  if  done  ? "  These  simple  rules  of  conduct  have  en 
abled  the  Senator  to  initiate  and  carry  through  some  sub 
stantial  and  valuable  reforms,  which  have  given  material 
and  valuable  relief  to  the  mercantile  and  commercial 
communities.  How  practical  he  is,  how  humane,  how 
little  wedded  to  abstract  ideas  in  the  face  of  solid  reforms, 
let  a  word  of  his  in  discussing  the  tariff  bill  of  1870  bear 
witness  to.  The  question  was  on  the  taxation  of  official 
salaries,  which  Mr.  Sherman  upheld,  but  Mr.  Bayard 
said  :  "  I  think  that  every  reason  which  existed  for  the 
repeal  of  the  income  tax  exists  for  the  repeal  of  this  tax 
upon  salaries.  Salaries  are  the  remuneration  for  labor— 
a  fixed  compensation ;  and  I  regret  that  this  discrimina 
tion,  or  this  tax  that  we  have  refused  to  continue  on  all 
other  sources  of  income,  should  continue  on  a  very  hard- 
worked  and  poorly  paid  class  of  people,  and  a  class  of 
7 


140  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

people  who  have  no  means  of  getting  rid  of  their  tax  in 
the  way  that  one  class  had  who  have  been  relieved,  to 
wit,  the  landlords  and  property-owmers  of  the  country. 
There  is  no  means  by  which  this  class  can  escape  from 
the  burden  hereby  imposed.  I  should  be  very  sorry, 
while  any  private  income  I  might  have  derived  from  any 
other  source  than  my  salary  here  should  be  exempted,  to 
still  continue  a  tax  upon  the  salaries  of  officers,  clerks, 
and  others,  poorly  paid,  as  I  have  said,  in  the  main,  for 
the  labor  they  have  done.  I  trust  the  Senate  will  not 
agree  to  it." 

This  tariff  act  of  1870  very  sensibly  reduced  the  bur 
den  of  general  taxation,  though  it  intensified  the  injustice 
of  "  protection  "  in  a  great  many  individual  instances,  and 
the  sugar  schedule,  in  particular,  was  a  monstrous  abor 
tion,  which  has  destroyed  the  importing  interest,  prevents 
the  consumption  of  raw  sugars,  has  eaten  up  the  capital  of 
honest  refiners  and  driven  them  out  of  the  trade,  deliver 
ing  over  to  their  successors  the  entire  control,  manipula 
tion,  and  distribution  of  the  sugar  supplies  of  45,000,000 
people,  consuming  1,800,000,000  pounds  of  sugar  every 
year.  Mr.  Bayard  argued  as  strenuously  for  the  good  fea 
tures  of  this  tariff  bill  as  he  combated  its  unjust  ones. 
In  his  speech  of  June  23,  1870,*  he  took  strong  ground 
against  the  income  tax,  especially  in  regard  to  its  dis 
criminative  features.  This  discrimination  against  prop 
erty  per  se,  Mr.  Bayard  argued,  was  most  unjust,  and  most 
unjustifiable.  "  It  was  discrimination  against  the  measure 
of  property.  It  was  defensible  on  no  grounds  on  which 
laws  should  ever  -rest.  It  was  in  effect  a  punishment  for 
the  possession  of  wealth,  and  tending  to  deter  men  from 

*  Appendix  to  "Congressional  Globe,"  Forty-first  Congress,  2d  session, 
p.  522. 


TARIFF  AND   REVENUE   REFORM.  141 

following  successfully  all  those  pursuits  which  a  wise  pub 
lic  policy  is  disposed  to  encourage." 

In  the  end  of  his  speech  Mr.  Bayard  summed  up  the 
reasons  which  compelled  him  to  vote  against  this  bill,  and 
which  have  made  him  the  opponent  of  every  bill  of  the 
same  sort  that  has  been  introduced  in  Congress  since  he 
came  there — "  Mr.  President,"  he  said,  "  believing  that 
this  tax  is  under  our  written  Constitution  forbidden  by  the 
clauses  which  I  have  read ;  believing  it  to  be  an  unjust 
tux  in  its  results ;  believing  its  discriminations  to  be  ut 
terly  unjust ;  believing  its  exemptions  to  be  utterly  delu 
sive,  failing  to  affect  favorably  those  classes  who  appeal 
most  to  our  sympathies  and  our  sense  of  protection — I 
mean  persons  of  a  decent  condition  of  life  with  fixed  in 
comes,  drawn  from  the  stock  of  incorporated  companies, 
who  are  deprived  of  all  benefit  by  this  so-called  exemption 
under  the  present  form  of  our  law;  believing  this,  and 
further,  that  the  demoralization  arising  from  the  pressure 
upon  men  either  to  conceal  the  proper  amount  of  their  in 
comes  to  escape  tax,  or  upon  those  who  are  struggling  under 
financial  troubles  to  exaggerate  their  income  in  order  to 
gain  credit,  and  delude  those  to  whom  they  are  indebted  ; 
believing  it  to  be  accompanied  by  inquisitorial  features 
which  tend  to  create  discontent  in  the  hearts  of  the  citi 
zens  against  the  government  under  which  they  live — all 
these  things  justify  me  in  expressing  the  hope,  and  I  cer 
tainly  shall  indicate  it  by  my  vote,  that  this  income  tax 
may  cease  to  exist  as  a  feature  of  American  legislation." 

But  there  were  other  reasons  why  Mr.  Bayard  opposed 
the  perpetuation  of  the  income  tax.  He  believed  that 
the  revenue  to  be  derived  from  this  source  could  be 
obtained  from  the  taxation  of  United  States  bonds,  and 
tli is  he  strongly  favored,  both  because  it  was  equitable 


LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

and  because  public  opinion  generally  consented  to  it,  and 
demanded  it  as  strongly  as  it  repudiated  the  policy  of 
perpetual  income  taxes.  Mr.  Bayard's  views  upon  this 
subject  are  valuable  as  illustrating  his  force  and  character 
as  a  practical  legislator,  a  profound  believer  in  the  "  un 
written  law  "  of  public  opinion  and  that  "  common  con 
sent  "  which  we  weaken  by  confounding  with  the  very 
ordinary  and,  as  commonly  used,  unmeaning  phrase, 
"  common  sense."  Said  Mr.  Bayard  : 

"  The  policy  adopted  by  the  treasury  officials  of  the 
United  States  has  forced  these  securities  to  something 
above  their  value  in  gold  ;  and  yet  the  cry  is  that  a  gua 
rantee,  the  advantage  of  which  they  have  fully  enjoyed 
and  more,  a  guarantee  that  was  upon  its  face  temporary 
only,  shall  now  be  continued  in  their  behalf  for  ever. 
Sir,  I  think  as  there  has  been  no  lack  of  favor  to  them, 
no  short-handed  allowance  of  good  faith  toward  them, 
they  should  be  satisfied  now  to  take  their  rank  with  other 
classes  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  to  be 
dealt  with  according  to  the  same  measure  of  even-handed 
justice.  I  would  deal  with  them  with  perfect  good  faith  ; 
but  I  would  not  exempt  them  from  paying  their  fair- 
share  of  the  public  burdens,  nor  discriminate  in  their 
favor  against  other  classes  of  my  countrymen.  Then,  sir, 
the  object  of  this  income  tax  having  ceased,  other  means 
for  procuring  the  same  amount  of  public  revenue  being, 
as  I  have  stated,  directly  at  hand,  the  retention  of  this 
five  per  cent,  upon  the  interest  of  the  public  debt,  the 
same  rate  which  it  has  been  paying  heretofore,  a  tax  im 
posed  directly  upon  accumulated  property,  will,  I  think, 
amply  supply  the  deficiency  which  may  be  caused  to  the 
public  revenue  from  the  destruction  of  this  income  tax 
upon  other  property. 


TARIFF   AND   REVENUE   REFORM. 

"  Sir,  it  has  been  said  that  there  is  an  opinion  in  the 
community  more  acute,  more  able,  and  more  wise  than 
that  of  even  the  wisest  individual  in  it ;  and  that  is  the 
great  result  called  public  opinion.  Many  men  in  the 
mass  come  to  conclusions  perfectly  just  and  irresistibly 
true,  for  which,  perhaps,  they  could  give  you  but  lame 
reasons  if  they  were  pressed  individually.  It  is  what  may 
be  called  the  sum  and  essence  of  popular  intelligence  that 
forms  to  my  mind  one  of  the  safest  guides  for  legislation. 
I  do  not  believe  that  this  income  tax  would  have  reached 
the  unpopularity  that  it  has,  that  it  would  be  felt  to  be  so 
injurious  to  the  public  as  it  is  felt  to  be,  if  its  evils  were 
not  real  instead  of  imaginary.  I  do  not  think  it  would 
be  difficult  to  trace  the  reasons  why  these  evils  should  be 
felt,  and  be  felt  by  the  poorest  man  as  well  as  by  the 
most  wealthy,  simply  for  the  causes  that  I  have  given 
here,  of  the  easy  method  by  which  these  burdens  that  are 
paid  by  the  landlord  and  the  capitalist  in  gross  may  be 
transferred  to  his  dependents  in  detail.  The  consumer 
will  pay  it  at  last ;  the  poor  tenant  will  pay  it  at  last ;  and 
you  may  take  from  the  lands  of  the  rich  landlord  what 
you  please,  he  simply  has  an  immediate  remedy  by  tack 
ing  that  amount  to  those  from  whom  his  revenues  are  de 
rived.  Such  is  the  case  ;  such  it  has  been  ;  such  it  always 
will  be  ;  and,  when  the  people  of  this  country  complain 
of  the  payment  of  a  tax  of  that  kind,  they  know  precisely 
where  the  shoe  pinches,  and  they  best  can  judge  of  their 
own  sufferings  under  it." 

The  vexed  question  of  reform  in  the  "  sugar  schedule  " 
agitates  Congress  and  the  country  to-day,  perhaps  because 
the  frauds  under  it  are  more  glaring  and  conspicuous  than 
they  are  in  respect  of  some  other  provisions  of  the  tariff. 
This  schedule  was  put  in  very  nearly  its  present  shape  at 


144:  LIFE  OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

this  session  of  1870,  from  which  we  have  already  quoted, 
and  Mr.  Bayard  easily  saw  through  and  sharply  denounced 
the  new  complications  in  the  methods  of  taxing  imported 
sugars  which  had  been  put  forward  by  Mr.  Schenck,  of 
the  House  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  and  by  Mr. 
Sherman,  of  the  Senate  Finance  Committee,  as  tariff  re 
forms.  Mr.  Bayard  would  accept  no  such  palpable  and 
transparent  sophistries.  He  made  a  short  speech  on  the 
subject,  and  on  the  general  matter  of  hurried  tariff  legis 
lation,*  which  is  representative  of  his  ideas  on  such 
subjects,  and  full  of  wisdom  and  soundness.  It  affords 
another  instance  of  the  thesis  which  has  been  maintained 
throughout  this  entire  sketch,  that  Mr.  Bayard  is  as  sig 
nally  conservative  as  he  is  confessedly  statesmanlike  in  all 
his  views. 

"  There  is  one  proposition  that  I  think  will  be  assented 
to  by  all  who  hear  me,  and  that  is,  that,  in  dealing  with  a 
question  so  broad  as  the  rate  of  duties  upon  imports,  a 
comprehensive  view  of  the  situation  is  demanded  for 
anything  like  justice,  or  anything  like  a  statesmanlike  re 
sult.  How  arc  we  asked  at  this  time  to  consider  this 
question  of  duties  upon  imports?  Why,  sir,  not  as  a 
whole,  not  as  a  general  system,  not  in  a  comprehensive 
glance  at  the  interests  of  our  entire  country,  with  all  our 
demands  and  with  all  our  productions  ;  but  we  are  called 
upon  to  consider  it  in  a  mere  fragmentary  state,  as  a  mere 
patchwork  upon  this  bill,  in  which  necessarily  you  will  be 
prevented  from  doing  justice,  because  you  will  exclude 
from  your  consideration  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  in 
terests  which  you  ought  to  consider  at  the  time  you  at 
tempt  to  tax  the  rest. 

"  I  am   not  only  strongly  in  favor  of  a  reduction  of 

*  June  27,  1870. 


TARIFF  AND   REVENUE   REFORM. 

tuxes,  but  I  am  an  equally  positive  believer  that  in  the 
amount  of  taxes  now  raised  there  can  be  far  more  com 
fort  and  justice  to  the  country  by  having  them  read 
justed  in  different  forms,  and  to  fall  with  different 
weights  than  they  now  do.  But  can  this  be  done  now  2 
Is  this  a  proper  time,  or  is  the  Senate  a  proper  body, 
to  take  up  this  question  and  consider  it,  as  I  say,  only 
in  this  patched  and  fragmentary  condition  ?  Why,  sir, 
what  was  the  result?  ...  I  will  simply  say  this:  that 
of  all  exhibitions  of  human  selfishness,  of  all  short 
sighted  human  selfishness  that  I  have  ever  known  in  my 
life,  that  which  I  have  witnessed  in  the  past  four  weeks 
has  exceeded  all.  What  has  it  been  ?  A  mere  scramble 
for  different  interests  rushing  down  here  in  the  closing 
weeks  of  a  session,  each  man  anxious  and  willing  to 
thrust  his  portion  of  public  burden  from  his  own  shoul 
ders,  and  pointing  out  the  convenient  back  of  some 
neighbor  on  whom  it  might  rest. 

"  It  was  not  the  dictate  of  justice  ;  it  was  not  dictated 
in  the  broad  light  of  necessity  for  the  public  welfare  and 
a  systematic  reformation  of  public  burdens.  It  was  no 
thing  in  the  world  but  what  I  have  described,  some  means 
by  which  individuals  might  profit,  and  that  profit  should 
be  gained  at  the  expense  of  some  other  member  of  soci 
ety.  I  do  not  say  this  struggle  of  human  interests  will 
not  always  occur ;  but  I  do  say  that  over  and  above  all 
that  there  must  suspend  the  judgment  of  those  who  are 
unable  to  comprehend  the  entire  field.  In  order  that 
men  should  undertake  to  settle  a  tariff  for  a  great  nation 
like  this,  with  all  the  variety  of  its  demands,  with  all  the 
intertwining  of  interests  among  a  people  so  vast  in  num 
ber,  so  varied  in  pursuits,  with  all  the  demands  of  so 
varied  a  climate  and  soil  as  our  own,  there  should  be  at 


146  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

least  a  full,  large-minded  grasp  of  the  whole  subject 
before  you  attempt  to  deal  with  any  part  in  the  frag 
mentary  way  that  is  now  proposed.  ...  If  this  list  of 
tariff  duties  is  to  be  discussed,  long  time  must  be  occu 
pied  in  it ;  each  individual  interest  will  wish  to  be  repre 
sented  ;  and  there  is  none  more  interesting  or  more  im 
portant  to  the  people  at  large  than  probably  the  very 
subject  now  under  discussion.  There  are  admitted  de 
fects  in  the  present  system  of  assessing  and  obtaining 
your  duties  upon  sugar ;  there  are  opportunities  for 
fraud,  opportunities  for  error,  which  result  in  injustice 
under  our  present  system  ;  and  yet,  great  as  are  these  op 
portunities  growing  out  of  the  complications  of  the  law, 
and  the  difficulty  of  establishing  this  standard  of  color, 
which  is  the  one  resorted  to  as  a  test  of  duty,  the  proposi 
tions  of  the  finance  committee  in  this  respect  rather  in 
crease  than  diminish  them.  I  do  not  say  they  do  not 
place  the  matter  on  a  fairer  basis  in  the  abstract,  but  I 
say  that,  practically  speaking,  they  increase  all  the  diffi 
culties  of  the  present  law. 

"  Sir,  there  is  one  other  matter  in  this  affecting  ques 
tions  of  commerce ;  and  that  is,  that  although  a  law  is 
perhaps  unjust  in  itself,  yet  if  it  has  been  suffered  to 
solidify  by  time,  and  the  interests  of  commercial  men 
have  been  suffered  to  accommodate  themselves  to  its  ex 
istence,  it  is  better  to  keep  it,  though  it  is  defective,  than 
by  sudden  changes  to  disarrange  the  arrangements  of  men 
in  commerce.  "What  contracts  may  have  been  made  by 
merchants  upon  the  basis  of  existing  duties  I  do  not 
know ;  but  no  doubt  they  have  been  large  and  important. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  while  some  men  may  be  bene 
fited,  the  great  mass  of  those  engaged  in  a  particular 
trade  are  injured,  by  a  sudden  dislocation  of  the  rates  of 


TARIFF   AND   REVENUE   REFORM.  147 

duties,  and  a  change  in  either  the  mode  of  collecting  them 
or  in  the  amount  to  be  collected.  .  .  .  Let  the  tariff  stand 
as  it  is  until  the  next  session  of  Congress,  when  it  may  be 
examined,  not  in  parts,  not  in  this  fragmentary  way,  but 
as  a  comprehensive  whole.  It  should  be  certainly  a  sys 
tem  and  not  a  simple  statutory  remedy,  picking  out  here 
and  there  some  article  which  is  to  be  favored  by  what  is 
termed  protection,  or  else  to  be  put  upon  the  free  list  in 
order  to  benefit  in  some  other  way  equally  selfish  some 
manufacturer.  I  trust  that  in  these  cases  and  in  all 
others  the  present  rate  of  duties  upon  imports  will  be 
retained,  without  regard  so  much  to  the  merits  of  the 
individual  proposition  taken  by  itself  in  part  as  this,  that 
when  a  change  of  the  tariff  is  made  it  shall  be  made  in 
obedience  to  a  comprehensive  system  of  alteration." 

The  tariff  attorneys  in  and  out  of  Congress  had  so  ar 
ranged  matters  as  to  bring  the  House  bill  into  the  Senate 
just  at  the  tail-end  of  the  session.  They  now  further  pro 
posed  (June  28,  1870),  on  a  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  John 
Sherman,  then  chairman  of  the  Senate  Finance  Commit 
tee,  as  he  is  now  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  "  that  the 
debate  on  House  bill  Ko.  2,045,  to  reduce  taxation,  shall 
after  to-day  be  confined  to  debate  of  not  exceeding  five 
minutes  by  each  senator  on  the  amendment  pending, 
when  such  debate  arises."  This  resolution,  though  without 
any  precedent  in  the  history  of  the  Senate,  was  adopted 
by  quasi  unanimous  consent,  but  not  before  Mr.  Bayard 
had  emphasized  his  objections  to  any  gag-law  of  the  sort. 
u  I  take  leave  to  say,"  he  said,  "  that  there  are  in  this  bill 
features  that  can  not  reasonably  and  justly  be  discussed 
in  the  time  stated.  There  are  propositions  in  this  bill  to 
which  I,  in  advance,  avow  my  utmost  opposition  ;  there  are 
propositions  in  this  bill  to  make  the  people  of  this  country 


148  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

pay  tribute  to  a  limited  number  of  individuals,  the  paten 
tees  of  certain  processes  of  manufacture,  that  can  not  have 
all  said  that  ought  to  be  said  against  them,  and  that 
would  be  said,  but  for  the  interference  of  this  rule,  within 
the  short  space  of  five  minutes." 

In  another  speech  in  the  debate  on  this  same  tariff, 
Mr.  Bayard  adverted  to  ad  valorem  duties.  Such  a  tariff 
lie  regarded  as  a  misfortune.  "It  requires  in  the  first 
place  a  system  of  oaths  from  the  importers.  The  system 
is  to  set  the  oaths  of  men,  their  sense  of  truth,  against 
their  pecuniary  interests  ;  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the 
history  of  mankind  shows  that  those  two  matters  can  sel 
dom  come  into  collision  without  injury  to  the  former." 
These  views  are  in  pointed  illustration  of  Mr.  Bayard's 
principles,  that  "  it  is  vain  to  sing  pgeans  to  public  credit 
and  to  national  honor,  and  do  those  things  that  make  it 
impossible  to  preserve  either." 

Let  us  now  glance  at  Mr.  Bayard  as  a  practical  reve 
nue  reformer.  We  have  already  briefly  alluded  to  his 
position,  with  Senator  Casserly,  in  the  minority  of  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Investigation  and  Retrenchment. 
That  committee  reported  in  June,  1872,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  Senate  took  no  action,  and  the  "White  House 
would  not  desert  its  favorites  "under  fire,"  and  all  the 
corrupt  influences  of  the  New  York  Custom-House  were 
brought  into  line  to  keep  things  in  statu  quo,  the  general- 
order  system  of  warehousing  was  abandoned,  Leet  and 
Stocking  forced  out  of  business,  Collector  Murphy  re 
moved,  and  the  moieties  to  informers  broken  up.  All 
this  was  in  consequence  of  the  facts  brought  out  by  Mr. 
Bayard  and  Mr.  Casserly,  and  the  strong  public  feeling 
which  they  called  into  action. 

These  matters  are  worth  discussing  just  now,  for  the 


TARIFF  AND   REVENUE   REFORM.  149 

system  which  Mr.  Bayard  condemned  and  exposed  was 
not  only  tolerated  and  encouraged,  it  was  in  great  meas 
ure  established,  by  General  Grant  and  his  understrappers 
in  and  out  of  Congress.  General  Grant  is  again  before  the 
people  soliciting  a  third  term  in  the  presidency,  and  his 
pretensions  are  eagerly  sustained  and  urged  by  the  old 
Custom-house  ring  of  New  York. 

The  Committee  on  Investigation  and  Retrenchment 
was  charged  to  investigate  alleged  abuses  and  extortions 
in  connection  with  the  general  order  warehouse  business, 
the  monopoly  of  which,  with  enormous  profits,  was  prac 
tically  in  the  hands  of  George  K.  Leet,  said  to  have  had 
"some  connection"  with  the  White  House ;  to  find  out 
what  was  the  "  mysterious  power  "  sustaining  this  scandal 
ous  system  of  robbery  against  the  voice  of  the  merchants 
of  New  York  and  the  judgment  and  voice  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  himself;  to  discover  if  unlawful 
charges  were  made  for  cartage  and  storage ;  if  customs 
officers  took  bribes  ("  presents,"  they  were  called) ;  if  they 
connived  at  "irregular  practices"  (another  name  for 
smuggling)  ;  if  merchandise  was  stolen  in  transitu ;  if 
compromises  with  merchants  under  the  moiety  system  led 
to  losses  of  revenue,  and  finally,  "whether  the  patronage, 
officers,  or  employees  of  said  custom-house  were  used  to 
influence  or  control  either  or  both  of  the  last  two  State 
conventions  of  the  Republican  party  in  New  York,  and 
whether  assessments  of  money  have  been  made,  or  contri 
butions  of  money  exacted,  to  be  used  to  control  primaries, 
secure  delegates  to  State  conventions  or  for  other  political 
purposes,  and  whether  any  of  the  said  officers  in  said  cus 
tom-house  have  been  or  are  used  as  instruments  of  politi 
cal  or  party  patronage." 

When  only  a  part  of  the  testimony  had  been  taken, 


150  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

the  investigation  threatened  to  be  so  damaging  to  those 
involved  that  it  was  cut  short,  and  the  majority  of  the 
committee,  without  intimating  the  fact  or  consulting  with 
the  minority  about  it,  prepared  and  adopted  a  "  white 
washing  "  report.  This  report,  in  manuscript,  was  sub 
mitted  in  the  last  hours  of  the  session,  when  there  was  no 
possible  chance  to  examine  and  consider  it  promptly,  and 
when  Mr.  Bayard  was  absent  as  one  of  a  committee  of 
conference  on  the  tariff  bill.  The  minority  report,  there 
fore,  of  Senators  Bayard  and  Casserly  was  necessarily  a 
hurried  and  incomplete  document,  yet  it  was  able  to  ac 
complish  all  that  we  have  said.  After  premising  that,  in 
consequence  of  New  York  city  being  the  great  gateway  of 
our  commerce,  the  chief  officer  of  customs  there  occupies 
a  position  and  becomes  an  officer  scarcely  second  to  a 
cabinet  officer  in  national  importance,  the  report  pro 
ceeds  to  consider  the  abuses  which  have  grown  up  in  this 
office  in  consequence  of  partisan  mismanagement.  The 
history  of  the  general-order  stores  and  bonded  warehouse 
system  is  given,  and  it  is  shown  that  there  was  no  mal 
administration  until  "  the  young  man  Leet "  was  forced 
upon  Collector  Grinnell  by  a  note  of  recommendation 
which  he  bore  from  President  Grant,  which  practically  was 
a  mandate  to  appoint  him.  In  Leet's  behalf  Grinnell 
withdrew  the  general-order  privilege  from  the  steamship 
warehouses  in  Jersey  City,  causing  great  injury  and  loss 
to  New  York  commerce.  Under  Leet's  system,  it  cost 
fourteen  per  cent,  more  to  store  goods  for  forty-eight 
hours  in  a  New  York  bonded  warehouse  than  it  did  to 
transport  them  across  the  Atlantic.  When  Grinnell  de 
clined  to  give  to  Leet  and  his  partner,  Stocking,  the  en 
tire  monopoly  of  this  general-order  business,  he  was  re 
moved  by  the  President,  and  Thomas  Murphy  became 


TARIFF   AND    REVENUE   REFORM.  151 

collector.  Murphy  proved  more  pliant,  and,  as  the  minor 
ity  report  shows,  "  from  September,  1870,  onward  and  un 
til  after  the  committee  had  left  New  York  in  February, 
1872,  the  general-order  business  was  a  monopoly  in  the 
hands  of  Leet  and  Stocking,  who  concentrated  it  in  the 
two  localities  above  stated.  Backed  by  the  official  sanc 
tion  of  the  custom-house,  this  monopoly  became  grossly 
exacting  and  oppressive  to  the  merchants  of  New  York. 
Their  charges  for  storage,  cartage,  and  labor  were  enor 
mously  increased,  and  delay,  inconvenience,  and  loss  fol 
lowed  to  the  community." 

The  testimony  of  leading  merchants,  such  as  A.  T. 
Stewart,  II.  B.  Claflin,  B.  H.  Hutten,  C.  W.  Schultz,  and 
others,  mainly  elicited  upon  cross-examination  by  Mr. 
Bayard,  went  to  prove  that  Leet's  charges  were  double 
those  formerly  made,  double  what  was  needed,  and  that 
goods  handled  by  him  were  not  well  guarded.  It  was 
proved  that  his  profits  were  enormous,  variously  estimated 
at  from  860,000  to  $200,000  a  year,  and  it  was  partly 
proved  that  somebody  in  Washington,  and  near  the 
AVliite  House — some  of  "  the  mess  "  to  which  Leet  had 
belonged — probably  shared  these  profits  with  him.  Leet's 
clerks  testified  that  the  books  of  the  firm  were  never 
balanced,  nor  could  the  committee  get  these  books  before 
them.  The  entire  capital  put  by  these  adventurers  in 
their  business  was  $1,000  in  cash,  advanced  by  a  third 
party,  and  Leet's  "  certificate  "  from  Grant,  stating  that 
he  had  been  the  General's  headquarters  clerk  at  Vicks- 
burg,  and  enjoyed  his  confidence. 

The  minority  showed  also  that  customs  officers  took 
bribes  in  defiance  of  the  statutes  making  such  action  a 
criminal  offense.  These  violations  of  law  were  habitual 
in  every  department  of  the  service.  Gross  frauds  were 


152  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

also  shown  to  be  probable  and  likely  in  the  weighing  and 
appraising  of  merchandise.  It  was  proved  that  merchants 
were  held  at  the  mercy  of  spies  and  informers  under  the 
"  general-warrant "  system,  by  which  a  promiscuous  seiz 
ure  of  books  and  papers  and  a  general  obstruction  of 
business  was  allowed.  It  was  proved  that  these  seizures 
were  often  made,  and  that  merchants  were  forced  to  pay 
heavy  sums  in  "  compromise,"  in  order  to  save  themselves 
from  ruin.  The  system  encouraged  gross  corruption  in 
the  detective  officers,  and  encouraged  merchants  also  to 
commit  crimes  against  the  revenue.  As  the  minority 
report  aptly  said :  "  What  would  be  thought  of  the  ad 
ministration  of  law  which  permitted  a  forger  to  go  free 
upon  repaying  the  amount  he  had  gained  by  the  commis 
sion  of  his  crime  ?  How  would  counterfeiting  be  stopped 
if  the  false  money  could  be  redeemed  by  good  and  the 
offense  wiped  out  ?  or  if  the  robber,  who  was  caught 
coming  from  your  premises  with  his  plunder,  should 
relinquish  his  basket  of  plate  and  go  unwhipped  of  jus 
tice?  Yet  such  is  precisely  the  present  system  of  dis 
posing  of  highly  penal  offenses  against  the  revenue. 
Such  is  the  result  and  consequence  of  settlement  and  com 
promise  for  offenses  for  violations  of  the  revenue  laws, 
as  systematically  conducted  by  United  States  treasury 
agents,  district  attorneys,  informers,  and  seizure-bureau 
officials.  "Who  can  doubt  that  one  resolute  prosecution  to 
conviction,  the  presence  of  one  dishonest  importing  mer 
chant  in  the  prisoner's  dock,  the  consignment  of  one  such 
criminal  to  the  penitentiary  of  the  State,  would  do  more 
to  reform  abuses  and  discourage  frauds  upon  the  revenue 
than  a  thousand  compromises  and  settlements?  Who 
can  estimate,"  the  report  adds,  "  the  amount  of  undis 
covered  frauds  and  their  cost  to  the  government  ?  The 


TARIFF  AND   REVENUE   REFORM.  153 

object  of  the  informer  being  gain  alone,  a  bribe  of  supe 
rior  dimensions  to  the  informer's  share  would  at  any 
time  secure  his  silence,  and  perhaps  connivance.  When 
a  government  relies  upon  nothing  higher  than  the  love  of 
money  in  its  public  service,  it  may  well  doubt  the  security 
of  its  revenues." 

It  was  proved  that  officials  made  extravagant  gains 
from  forfeitures  and  amercements.  The  naval  officer's 
share  from  these  sources,  above  his  handsome  salary,  was 
si  14,704.27,  and  that  of  the  surveyor  §101,206.12,  all  in 
four  years,  besides  a  divisible  interest,  to  a  much  larger 
amount,  in  undetermined  seizure  cases.  It  was  proved 
that  Jayne,  Howe,  Brush,  Chalker,  and  other  special 
treasury  agents,  in  their  search  after  moieties,  stooped  to 
bribe  the  clerks  and  confidential  employees  of  merchants 
to  betray  their  most  private  affairs.  "  Can  such  abomina 
tions  as  these,"  said  Messrs.  Bayard  and  Casserly,  "  be 
justified  by  the  pretense  that  they  are  meant  to  prevent 
or  punish  frauds  upon  the  revenue  ?  Who  will  not  say 
that  the  remedy  is  not  ten  times  worse  than  the  disease  ? 
What  security  is  there  that  the  bookkeeper  or  clerk  so 
suborned  by  the  informer  shall  not  make  such  entries  in 
the  books  of  the  merchant,  unknown  to  him,  as  would  be 
proof  almost  conclusive  of  criminality  ?  Such  a  system 
would  honeycomb  society  with  fraud  and  dissimulation, 
and  banish  all  confidence  between  men." 

The  minority  report  finally  exposed  the  New  York 
Custom-House  as  a  political  engine  in  such  an  effectual 
way  as  to  compel  the  men  who  came  after  Grant  to  pre 
tend  at  least  to  prohibit  government  employees  from 
levying  assessments,  and  "  managing  "  primary  elections. 
All  the  reforms  either  made,  or  mapped  in  this  direction, 
started  from  the  disclosures  embodied  in  this  report  of 


154  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

Messrs.  Bayard  and  Casserly.  The  Liberal  Republican 
revolt  in  1872  and  the  very  liberal  Republican  platform 
(not  acted  up  to)  of  1876  are  among  the  other  fruits  of 
what  the  report  revealed.  On  these  subjects  is  said, 
among  other  things : 

"  Of  the  utter  demoralization  and  wide-spread  injury 
to  the  public  service  caused  by  this  perversion  of  official 
power  and  abuse  of  the  patronage  inherent  in  the  bestow 
ing  of  public  office,  we  have  abundant  and  conclusive 
testimony.  Indeed,  the  frauds,  the  misdemeanors,  defal 
cations,  and  abuses  to  which  we  have  referred  in  the  fore 
going  pages,  have  their  well-spring  in  the  necessary 
corruptions  that  flow  from  the  prostitution  of  appoint 
ments  in  the  civil  service  to  mere  party  ends.  It  would 
be  a  Utopian  idea  that  so  vast  a  machine  as  the  New  York 
Custom-House  could  be  operated  without  the  incidental 
results  of  human  frailty  and  sin.  But  when  the  govern 
ing  ideas  of  such  an  institution  are  based  upon  the  very 
lowest  views  of  political  morality  and  partisan  expe 
diency,  the  result  must  necessarily  be  such  as  is  disclosed 
by  the  present  testimony." 

It  proved  that  the  Custom-House  ring  was  in  sympathy 
with  and  friendly  to  the  "  Tammany  ring,"  had  intimate 
relations  with  and  did  underhand  work  for  Tweed, 
Sweeney,  Connelly,  Smith,  and  Hall.  In  those  palmy 
days,  Mr.  Alonzo  B.  Cornell,  Conkling's  present  gov 
ernor  of  New  York,  was  naval  officer  at  the  port,  and 
then,  as  now,  a  strenuous  adherent  of  General  Grant's. 
The  conclusions  to  which  Messrs.  Bayard  and  Casserly 
came  have  peculiar  value.  They  cover  the  whole  subject 
of  civil  service  reform,  and  how  to  effect  it,  and  they  ex 
press  Mr.  Bayard's  views  in  regard  to  this  most  impor 
tant  matter. 


TARIFF   AXD    REVENUE  REFORM.  155 

"  We  believe,"  the  report  says,  "  that  the  extracts  made 
of  the  testimony  taken  in  this  case,  in  relation  to  Mr.  Mur- 
phv  and  his  method  of  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  collec- 
torship,  will  render  it  obvious  that  he  was  a  very  unfit  man 
for  the  position,  totally  without  a  proper  comprehension 
of  its  duties,  and  almost  totally  without  the  capacities  to 
fulfill  them.  The  tenure  of  the  political  office  under  his 
administration  was  made  solely  dependent  upon  bald 
partisan  service,  generally  of  the  basest  character.  Merit 
in  office  was  overlooked  or  disregarded,  if  it  did  not  ac 
company  the  most  facile  and  slavish  obedience  to  party 
demands.  Personal  un worthiness  and  profligacy  were 
totally  disregarded  if  unhesitating  political  adherence  was 
given.  The  result  was  necessarily  fatal  to  the  public  ser 
vice.  To  be  a  good  and  reliable  public  officer  means  to 
be  a  reliable  man  and  good  citizen.  The  qualities  that 
form  our  security  in  private  life  are  our  best  safeguards 
in  public  life.  A  public  official  who  will  sacrifice  his 
personal  convictions  of  right  and  independence  of  thought 
l  <  >  gain  or  keep  an  office  wTill  be  unworthy  of  trust  when 
in  office.  If  such  an  example  be  set  by  those  high  in 
authority,  nothing  can  be  expected  but  that  it  will  be 
followed  by  their  subordinates.  Like  master,  like  man. 
If  the  collector  of  the  port  be  nothing  better  than  a  ward 
politician,  with  the  habits,  instincts,  and  tone  of  his  class, 
his  subordinates  will,  very  shortly,  be  found  to  follow  and 
imitate  him.  If  Mr.  Murphy  totally  overlooked  what  was 
due  to  the  public  service  in  making  his  appointments,  if  he 
bargained  and  sold  the  places  of  inspector,  weigher,  ganger, 
and  the  like,  how  could  it  be  expected  that  his  appointees 
would  be  faithful  to  the  government,  or  that  bribery  and 
corruption,  delinquency  and  abuse,  should  not  mark  nearly 
every  department  and  feature  of  his  administration  ? " 


156  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

As  to  the  principles  regulating  tenure  of  office,  it 
says  :  "  It  seems  to  us  that  those  principles  of  compensa 
tion  and  employment  which  are  found  useful,  and  lead  to 
success  in  the  business  affairs  of  private  individuals,  are 
not  less  true  when  applied  to  the  public  service.  To 
make  tenure  of  office  dependent  upon  the  mere  will  of 
the  superior  or  upon  the  shifting  tides  of  political  party 
ascendancy,  is  a  system  which  would  soon  lead  to  the 
bankruptcy  of  the  private  merchant  who  adopted  it.  By 
a  course  of  reasoning  equally  applicable  to  public  affairs, 
the  government  that  adopts  it  must  suffer.  It  can  not 
well  be  denied  that  good  behavior  in  office  should  be 
the  only  condition  imposed  upon  permanent  tenure ;  that 
the  public  service  should  be  the  only  thing  to  be  regarded  ; 
and  the  individual  who  performed  that  might  feel  assured 
that  he  would  be  allowed  to  enjoy  his  individual  opinions 
upon  political  and  other  subjects  in  perfect  self-respect 
and  without  fear  of  the  frowns  of  his  official  superiors. 
Certain  it  is  that  this  rule  could  safely  be  applied  to  all 
offices  simply  ministerial.  In  others  of  a  grade  that  neces 
sarily  reflected  the  political  policy  of  an  administration, 
such  as  cabinet  officers,  it  may  be  necessary,  and  probably 
is  so,  that  concurrence  of  sentiment  with  the  executive 
should  be  an  additional  condition  of  official  tenure." 

And  upon  the  general  subject  we  find  these  very 
wise  conclusions :  "  The  principles  of  good  government 
are,  after  all,  although  profound  in  their  operation,  very 
simple  in  their  nature.  At  the  very  base,  strict  and  rigid 
pecuniary  honesty  must  lie.  If  this  be  wanting,  if  pecu 
niary  delinquencies  shall  be  condoned  because  the  public 
treasury,  and  not  an  individual,  is  the  sufferer,  then  from 
such  an  admission  proceeds  a  whole  catalogue  of  evils  and 
corruption.  If  a  man  in  official  position  bestows  an  office 


TARIFF    AND   REVENUE   REFORM.  j;,7 

of  trust  and  emolument  upon  another  because  he  is  a 
personal  or  political  friend,  and  without  regard  to  the  fact 
whether  he  is  competent  and  willing  to  render  a  just 
equivalent  of  service  for  the  salary  he  receives,  then  the 
public  treasury  is  defrauded,  is  robbed  to  the  precise 
amount  of  that  friend's  defalcation  in  duty ;  and  in  dis 
honesty  the  crime  is  not  proportioned  to  the  amount  that 
is  taken,  but  to  the  departure  from  moral  principle  which 
is  involved.  Public  men  have  no  right  to  receive  personal 
favors  at  public  cost.  They  have  no  right  to  enrich  them 
selves,  their  families,  or  their  friends,  at  public  cost.  It 
is  a  breach  of  trust  when  such  things  are  permitted ;  and 
no  public  service  where  they  are  tolerated  can  fail  to  be 
come  corrupt  and  worthless. 

"  A\re  have  pointed  out  the  evils  that  resulted  from  an 
unwise,  impolitic  law,  such  as  that  permitting  the  seizure 
of  books  and  papers  of  merchants.  But  the  great  mass 
of  the  abuses  to  which  we  have  referred  are  those  of  mal 
administration  ;  and,  until  men  shall  be  placed  in  power 
who  realize  the  requirements  and  are  competent  to  un 
derstand  and  execute  the  duties  of  civil  administration, 
without  personal  favor,  and  with  a  single  eye  to  public 
interests  alone,  the  evils  we  have  pointed  out  can  not  be 
expected  to  diminish,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  grow  worse 
and  worse. 

"  The  evils  which  have  been  proven  to  exist  have 
their  source,  as  we  have  said  and  now  here  repeat,  much 
less  in  the  existence  of  imperfect  or  mischievous  laws 
than  in  the  want  of  capacity  and  fitness  on  the  part  of 
those  who  fill  the  offices.  The  fundamental  caiise  of  this 
great  abuse  and  the  real  responsibility  for  it  are  to  be 
found  in  an  improper  administration  of  the  appointing 
power  in  the  government. 


158  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

"  By  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States 
the  President  has  plenary  power  over  the  civil  service  of 
the  country.  Nearly  all  appointments  to  office  proceed 
directly  or  indirectly  from  him.  By  the  Constitution  he 
is  commanded  '  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully 
executed,'  and  by  his  oath  of  office  he  binds  himself 
'  faithfully  to  execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States.'  He  is  to  put  fit  men  in  office,  and  to  see  that 
the  laws  do  not  fail  of  execution  by  their  misconduct. 

"  His  power  over  the  subject  is  exclusive.  So  is  his 
responsibility.  His  duty  is  equally  plain  and  paramount. 

"  Having  all  the  power  necessary,  if  he  has  the  capa 
city  and  will  to  give  to  the  country  an  honest,  efficient 
civil  service,  he  will  do  it.  If  he  fails  to  bestow  this 
great  blessing  on  the  people,  it  is  not  for  want  of  power 
in  himself.  It  can  only  be  for  want  of  either  the  will  or 
the  capacity ;  it  may  be,  of  both.  Whatever  the  cause, 
the  evils  of  his  failure  are  manifold  and  serious.  His 
abuses  of  the  appointing  power  are  reproduced  with  mis 
chievous  fidelity  through  the  body  of  the  subordinates  in 
the  civil  service,  to  the  scandal  and  oppression  of  the 
people,  and  the  gradual  general  lowering  of  their  moral 
tone. 

"  The  cure  for  the  evil  must  be  sought  in  the  same 
high  quarter  where  the  evil  had  its  rise.  It  is  there  that 
the  power,  the  duty,  and  the  responsibility  lie.  There 
the  cure  is  to  be  applied.  Anything  short  of  this  is  tri 
fling  with  the  evil.  It  is  dealing  with  the  effect  instead 
of  with  the  cause." 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

"  THIS    IS    A    GOVERNMENT   OF    LAWS." 

AMONG  the  calamities  which  war  brings  in  its  train, 
there  is  none  more  pernicious  or  more  lasting  in  its  bale 
ful  effects  than  this  :  that  it  familiarizes  a  people  with 
the  substitution  of  the  rule  of  force  for  the  rule  of  law. 
The  jealous  vigilance  with  which  any  approach  to  ille 
gality  should  be  watched  by  a  free  people  becomes  re 
laxed,  or  superseded  by  a  spirit  of  acquiescence,  if  not  of 
submissiveness.  During  the  late  war  so  many  violations 
of  civil  rights  and  order  were  perpetrated  under  the  plea 
of  military  necessity  that  the  people  grew  callous,  and, 
even  where  such  necessity  did  not  exist,  looked  on,  per 
haps  with  regret,  but  without  astonishment,  and  almost 
without  indignation.  The  war  and  its  results  established 
the  radical  leaders  firmly  in  at  least  temporary  power,  and 
lifted  one  of  the  victorious  commanders  to  the  highest 
office  in  the  country,  and  they  must  have  had  less  than 
the  common  share  of  human  frailty  if  they  had  not  re 
garded  the  modes  and  the  instruments  of  their  success 
with  peculiar  affection. 

By  a  natural  confusion  of  thought  they  had  first  iden 
tified  the  country  with  the  administration,  and  then  with 
thoir  own  party;  and  as  once  whoever  canvassed  the  acts 
of  the  President  was  branded  as  disloyal,  so  now  they 
could  not  help  feeling  that  a  dissenter  from  their  views 


160  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

or  opposer  of  their  policy  must  be  a  traitor  at  heart.  To 
cast  a  Democratic  ballot  was  an  act  differing  only  in  de 
gree,  but  not  in  kind,  from  firing  a  rebel  bullet ;  and  a 
Democratic  body  elected  to  replace  a  Republican  body 
was,  in  the  view  of  these  extremists,  merely  a  hostile 
force  that  had  surprised  a  fort,  and  must  be  dislodged  at 
any  cost. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  a  trained  and 
veteran  soldier,  was  naturally  partial  to  those  summary 
modes  of  procedure  with  which  he  was  familiar,  and 
which  in  his  hands  had  proved  so  triumphantly  effective ; 
and  he  was  surrounded  by  advisers  and  subordinates  who 
urged — if  urging  wras  needed — and  eagerly  applauded 
their  use.  When  members  of  the  legislature  of  a  State 
were  thrust  from  their  hall  by  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  army,  at  the  head  of  a  file  of  soldiers ;  when  a 
general  of  cavalry  proposed,  in  time  of  peace,  and  with 
all  the  courts  open,  to  deal  writh  a  community  as  "  ban 
ditti,"  a  prompt  and  hearty  approval  from  "  all  of  us  " 
flashed  back  with  lightning  speed.  No  matter  how  com 
plete  the  machinery  of  civil  government,  wherever  there 
were  "  outrages,"  there  the  military  must  interfere  ;  and 
there  were  sure  to  be  "  outrages  "  in  plenty  just  before 
an  election,  except  in  districts  certain  to  be  carried  by  the 
Republicans,  and  there  a  halcyon  calm  prevailed.  Of  no 
use  was  it  to  expose  the  preposterous  character  of  the 
testimony  adduced,  or  to  inquire  how  a  handful  of  Dem 
ocrats  could  "  terrorize  "  overwhelming  majorities  of  their 
political  opponents ;  the  spectres  of  "  Ku-Klux "  and 
"  White-Leagues  "  were  made  to  stalk  solemnly  up  and 
down  the  halls  of  Congress  until  the  farce  could  be 
played  no  longer. 

But  these  things  were  not  the  worst,  for  from  these 


"THIS   IS   A   GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS.'  Ifil 

there  was  sure  to  be  a  reaction ;  worse  tlian  these  was  the 
growing  indifference  to  law,  the  feeling  that  the  party  in 
power  was  entitled  to  have  things  their  own  way,  which 
was  the  legitimate  offspring  of  a  loose  construction  of  the 
Constitution,  and  that  doctrine  of  "  a  higher  law  "  in 
vented  to  justify,  and  even  to  sanctify,  profitable  per 
jury. 

No  wonder  that  the  conservative  minority  in  Congress 
did  their  utmost  to  check  this  growing  demoralization, 
which  was  eating  like  a  cancer  into  the  very  vitals  of  the 
country.  Among  these  Mr.  Bayard  was  constant  in  his 
warnings,  not  to  the  Senate  alone,  but  to  the  whole  peo 
ple,  that  something  far  more  momentous  than  party  fail 
ure  or  triumph  wras  at  stake — that  nothing  less  than  repub 
lican  government  and  free  institutions  were  at  stake,  if 
the  great  truth  were  forgotten  that  "  this  is  a  government 
of  laws." 

"  Would  to  God ! "  he  exclaims,  in  his  speech  of  Feb 
ruary  15,  1870,  on  the  admission  of  Mississippi  to  repre 
sentation  in  Congress,  "  would  to  God  the  people  of  this 
broad  land  could  fully  realize  how  fatal  to  the  cause  of 
civil  liberty,  how  hostile  to  the  very  genius  of  our  insti 
tutions,  is  the  doctrine  of  coercive  powers,  upon  which 
now  alone  the  radical  party  propose  to  govern  this 
country. 

u  \Vlien  will  the  leaders  of  that  party  recognize  the 
truth  that  the  true  strength  of  our  government  rests,  not 
in  the  number  of  bayonets  it  can  command  to  overawe 
and  subdue  local  discontents,  not  in  penal  statutes  and 
test-oaths  and  disfranchisements  of  the  ablest  and  most 
intelligent  citizens,  but  in  the  love  and  respect  which 
exist  in  the  hearts  of  our  people  toward  it  and  their  rul 
ers  ?  That  its  i  cheap  defense '  will  be  the  ramparts  which 


162  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

patriotic  sentiments  shall  construct  to  guard  it,  and  that 
the  l  consent  of  the  governed '  is  the  only  just  and  firm 
foundation  upon  which  we  can  build  our  hopes  for  the 
perpetuation  of  the  free  Constitution  of  our  fathers,  de 
signed  by  them  to  be  our  shield  and  safeguard  against  all 
tyranny  and  usurpation,  whether  from  within  or  from 
without  ? " 

And  elsewhere  in  the  same  speech : 

"If  the  doctrines  enunciated  in  the  speech  of  the 
Senator  [Carpenter]  yesterday  in  regard  to  the  limita 
tions  upon  the  centralizing  power  of  the  federal  govern 
ment,  in  regard  to  the  recognition  of  the  wisdom  and  the 
necessity  of  leaving  to  the  state  governments  the  control 
of  their  local  matters  and  institutions,  matters  which  so 
necessarily  and  so  reasonably  belong  to  them,  can  be  fol 
lowed  out,  and  can  be  brought  in  good  faith  into  practice 
by  the  party  of  which  the  Senator  is  so  distinguished  an 
ornament,  I  will  rejoice  in  their  success.  The  power 
and  spoils  of  party  which  may  attend  their  political  suc 
cess  I  shall  not  envy,  nor  disturb  their  enjoyment.  To 
me  the  happiness  of  seeing  my  native  land  once  more 
enjoying  that  civil  and  religious  feeling  which  can  only 
exist  under  a  government  of  laws,  under  a  government 
of  well-defined  and  limited  powers,  will  more  than  com 
pensate  for  the  absence  of  the  supposed  exultation  conse 
quent  upon  a  mere  partisan  triumph." 

So  in  his  speech  of  May  21,  1872,  in  opposition  to  the 
bill  giving  the  President  power  to  suspend  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  in  any  State  at  his  pleasure,  thus  giving 
really  absolute  and  dictatorial  power,  and  "  substituting 
his  irresponsible  will  for  the  safeguards  of  the  Constitu 
tion  " — for  so  shamelessly  reckless  had  the  radical  party 
grown,  that  they  were  not  only  willing  but  eager  to  lay 


"THIS   IS   A   GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS."  1C3 

the  liberties  of  the  whole  country  under  the  feet  of  a 
military  autocrat,  rather  than  risk  their  own  expulsion 
from  power. 

"Mr.  President,  it  is  to  me  an  appalling  and  fearful 
thing  to  witness  how  the  frail  bands  of  constitutional 
limitation  are  snapping  and  parting  in  the  fire  of  party 
spirit  and  sectional  animosity.  It  seems  to  me  the  prin 
ciples  on  which  our  system  of  government  was  based  are 
day  by  day  more  and  more  effaced,  and  their  very  exist 
ence  forgotten.  Legislation  Jby  Congress  seems  day  by 
day  to  be  assuming  the  form  and  shape  of  mere  military 
orders.  Reason,  argument,  persuasion,  moral  power,  are 
supplanted  by  the  argument  of  arms.  Our  government 
is  fast  becoming  a  government  of  mere  will,  and  a  gov 
ernment  of  laws  is  being  forgotten  or  discarded.  \Ye 
have  seen  lately  in  this  very  chamber  how  the  decisions 
of  the  judicial  branch  of  our  government  are  met  by  the 
majority.  AVhen  heat  and  passion  have  induced  the  pas 
sage  of  an  act  by  Congress  violative  of  the  Constitution, 
and  therefore  invalid,  and  in  calm  and  temperate  methods 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  without  a  single 
voice  of  dissent,  so  declares  it  to  be,  loud  and  disrespect 
ful  denunciations  of  the  exercise  of  just  judicial  preroga 
tive  are  heard  from  the  leaders  of  the  majority ;  denuncia 
tions  of  the  decision  which  thwarted  their  hostile  intent, 
and  something  approaching  threats  against  a  coordinate 
and  equal  branch  of  the  government. 

"  And  let  not  the  people  of  the  Northern  States  believe 
that  this  power  so  greedily  asked  for  by  the  President, 
so  shamelessly  sought  to  be  awarded  him  by  his  party 
friends  in  Congress,  can  be  exercised  or  will  be  exercised 
to  subjugate  the  Southern  States,  and  destroy  the  liberties 
of  that  people  alone.  It  is  the  first  step  that  costs.  That 
8 


164:  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYAI1D. 

which  is  pretended  as  a  law  to-day  for  but  part  of  the 
country,  a  temporary  law  for  part  of  the  country,  will 
shortly  become  the  settled  law  for  the  whole  country. 
The  emergency  of  party,  the  needful  party  success,  will 
be  the  only  regulation  that  its  authors  and  its  executors 
will  recognize." 

Yet  monstrous  as  that  bill  was,  it  would  have  become 
the  law  of  the  land,  had  not  the  Liberal  Republicans  in 
the  House  joined  the  Democrats  in  defeating  it.  Here  is 
its  history,  from  Mr.  Bayard's  address  at  Wilmington, 
October  4,  1872 : 

"  I  know  the  history  of  those  events.  As  one  of  your 
representatives  in  the  Senate  I  witnessed  them  all.  I 
know  how  close  was  the  shave  by  which  that  wicked  and 
monstrous  law  was  defeated ;  and  I  know  by  whose  aid 
the  Democratic  party  was  enabled,  standing  of  course  a 
solid  phalanx  itself,  to  thwart  that  disastrous  attempt. 
Why,  look  at  it.  The  Senate  passed  the  bill  to  give  this 
power  for  one  year  more  to  the  President.  There  was 
full  debate  upon  that  in  the  Senate ;  but  you  know  how 
weak  in  numbers  is  the  minority  there.  Then  were  heard, 
however,  the  voices  of  liberal  and  true  men  of  the  Re 
publican  party  protesting  against  this  act.  They  acted 
with  the  Democrats  in  endeavoring  to  prevent  its  passage, 
but  in  vain.  It  went  to  the  House  of  Representatives ; 
fresher  from  the  people,  with  more  responsibility  for 
their  acts  to  the  people,  than  many  of  those  in  the  Senate. 
There  the  Liberal  Republicans,  acting  with  the  Democrats, 
succeeded  in  tabling  that  bill,  and  laying  it  under  some 
hundreds  of  measures  that  could  not  be  acted  upon,  and 
refusing  to  give  it  precedence. 

"  Then  what  happened  ?  In  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  we  were  considering  a  bill  to  appropriate  moneys 


"THIS   IS   A   GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS."  1G5 

for  the  expenses  of  the  government.  For  the  purpose  of 
facilitating  business,  the  Senate  unanimously  adopted  a 
rule  that  no  amendment  but  such  as  was  germane  to  the 
appropriation  bill  should  be  received,  and  that  but  five 
minutes  should  be  given  to  any  one  to  debate  any  given 
subject ;  it  being  a  business  measure  entirely  upon  which 
lengthened  discussion  was  out  of  place,  and  which  the 
condition  of  the  session  rendered  also  impossible.  The 
nomination  of  General  Grant  had  been  made.  The 
nomination  at  Cincinnati  had  been  made.  The  conclu 
sion  was  almost  foregone  at  that  time  that  the  Demo 
cratic  party  would  ratify  the  action  of  the  Cincinnati 
Convention.  At  least  there  had  been  then  so  general  an 
expression  that  such  result  was  understood  throughout 
the  country  to  be  highly  probable,  although  there  were 
many  members  of  the  Democratic  party,  among  whom 
was  he  who  now  addresses  you,  in  opposition  to  such 
action.  In  this  emergency  the  Republican  leaders,  feel 
ing  that  their  position  was  desperate,  that  they  must  give 
this  power  to  the  President  in  order  to  re-elect  himself, 
and  to  have  this  bayonet  bill  once  more  enforced  over  the 
entire  country,  in  utterly  dishonorable  disregard  of  the 
intent  and  meaning  of  the  rule  they  had  adopted,  pro 
cured  a  fitting  instrument  to  offer  an  amendment  to  a 
money  bill,  giving  the  President  the  right  fo  suspend  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  at  his  pleasure  in  any  part  of  this 
country  for  another  year. 

"  The  dishonorable  proposition  was  immediately  de 
nounced  by  the  Democrats.  It  was  debated ;  but  the 
temporary  Chairman  of  the  Senate,  forgetting  what  was 
due  to  himself  and  to  his  position,  ruled  the  amendment 
to  be  in  order.  Upon  a  motion  to  take  an  appeal  from 
his  decision  we  were  afforded  a  poor  opportunity  of  de- 


166  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.    BAYARD. 

bate,  because,  if  the  amendment  had  been  received  as  in 
order,  but  five  minutes  would  have  been  given  to  discuss 
such  a  question,  which,  of  course,  would  have  been  fruit 
less  and  absurd.  In  order  to  bring  before  the  people  of 
this  country  the  monstrous  nature  of  this  proposition,  the 
little  band  of  Democrats,  throughout  the  whole  of  that 
weary  night,  discussed  that  question,  so  that  the  people 
might  be  aroused  to  the  danger  of  the  attempt  that  was 
being  made,  and  that  the  House  of  Representatives  might 
also  be  put  upon  their  guard  and  understand  the  true 
nature  of  the  question.  But  human  endurance  has  its 
limits ;  and  those  few  worn  and  weary  men,  the  Liberal 
Republicans  and  Democrats  of  the  Senate,  a  scanty  hand 
ful,  were  at  length  compelled  by  sheer  fatigue  to  aban 
don  the  contest,  and,  as  the  gray  light  of  dawn  entered 
the  Senate  Chamber,  that  amendment  wras  offered,  and 
it  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  the  Senate. 

"  The  bill  went  to  the  House,  and  what  was  its  fate  ? 
There  spoke  Democracy ;  there  spoke  Liberal  Republi 
canism — both  uttering  the  same  voice  and  saying :  '  This 
dishonest  act  shall  not  become  a  law.'  I  well  remember 
the  anxious,  weary  hours  that  I  and  others  in  that  Cham 
ber  passed  in  watching  the  fate  of  a  bill  that  seemed  to 
me  to  involve  the  fate  of  my  country.  What !  give  to  a 
candidate  for  re-election  the  right  to  take  away  the  great 
writ  of  liberty  from  all  his  opponents !  Is  it  not  enough 
to  make  you  shudder  ?  Is  it  not  enough  to  make  men 
ashamed  that  such  things  ever  were  proposed  ?  Is  it  not 
enough,  my  friends,  to  make  you  feel  grateful  that  there 
were  Liberal  Republicans  to  aid  the  Democrats  in  such 
an  emergency." 

As  President  Grant  was  the  ready  and  willing  instru 
ment  to  execute  a  policy  that  would  have  laid  the  whole 


"THIS   IS   A   GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS."  167 

American  people  prostrate  beneath  his  feet,  and  made 
constitutional  government,  a  government  of  laws,  mere 
things  of  the  past,  Mr.  Bayard  took  occasion  in  the  same 
speech  to  review  his  action,  that,  from  what  he  had  already 
done,  the  people  might  judge  what  he  was  ready  to  do. 

"  What  rebuke  has  the  President  of  the  United  States 
ever  administered  to  a  dishonest  official?  What  encour 
agement  has  he  ever  held  out  to  a  pure  and  honorable 
one  ?  Early  in  the  history  of  his  administration  there  was 
a  gentleman  who  was  his  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  whom  I 
never  heard  spoken  of  by  any  man  who  knew  him  except 
in  terms  of  respect :  I  mean  Jacob  D.  Cox,  of  Ohio.  lie 
was  a  pure-minded,  honest  administrator.  A  proposition 
was  made  that  all  the  clerks  of  his  department  should  be 
assessed  upon  their  salaries  for  political  purposes,  and  Mr. 
Cox  said  nothing  of  the  kind  should  be  done  in  his 
department ;  that  those  men  were  there  for  public  service ; 
it  was  optional  with  them  what  they  should  subscribe,  but 
that  he  never  would  make  himself  a  party  to  a  scheme 
for  raising  partisan  funds  by  assessing  the  wrages  of  those 
overworked  and  ill-paid  men.  What  was  the  result  ?  The 
political  managers  of  the  canvass  were  not  satisfied  because 
he  would  not  make  himself  an  instrument  for  this  dis 
reputable  business.  They  went  to  the  President  with  com 
plaints  that  he  would  not  do  this  dirty  work  of  politics. 
What  did  the  President  do  ?  You  know  that  he  parted 
with  that  honest  man;  he  sustained  the  corruptionists, 
and  he  let  Mr.  Cox  retire  from  his  cabinet,  and  refused  to 
sustain  him  in  the  honest  position  he  had  taken. 

"  While  he  turned  Mr.  Cox  out  of  his  cabinet  because 
he  would  not  league  himself  with  these  disreputable  opera 
tions  for  partisan  purposes,  he  kept  in  his  cabinet  and 
close  in  his  counsels  Mr.  Creswell,  the  same  postmaster 


168  LIFJE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

general  who  allowed  the  claim  of  one  Chorpenning  to  his 
law  partner,  when  he  himself  had  previously  examined  it 
and  disallowed  it,  when  three  postmasters  general  had 
previously  disallowed  it  after  full  examination.  Mr.  Ores- 
well  allowed  a  claim  for  §454,000  when  the  man  who 
claimed  it  never  had  a  just  claim  for  one  cent,  and  had 
really  been  paid  three  times  more  than  he  ought  ever  to 
have  received. 

"  I  take  the  record,  and  I  show  you  that  Mr.  Dawes, 
the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  of 
the  House,  came  into  Congress  at  the  opening  of  the  ses 
sion  in  December,  1870,  and  .introduced  a  resolution  to 
repeal  a  former  resolution,  which  had  been  obtained  by 
fraud  and  misrepresentation,  allowing  the  Chorpenning 
claim  on  the  recommendation  of  the  postmaster  general,  or 
authorizing  him  to  make  the  settlement.  Mr.  Dawes  ex 
plained  the  fraud,  and  the  resolution  under  which  Cres- 
well  had  acted  to  pay  this  claim  was  unanimously  repealed. 
It  came  to  the  Senate,  and  it  was  also  unanimously  re 
pealed  there.  The  payment  of  the  money  was  stopped  ; 
it  was  saved  to  the  treasury  against  Mr.  Creswell's  efforts 
to  get  it  out ;  and  after  that  time  twice,  upon  the  statute 
book,  stands  a  proviso  to  appropriations  of  money  for  pub 
lic  purpose  that  no  portion  of  that  money  should  go 
toward  paying  the  claim  known  as  the  Chorpenning  claim. 
This  occurred  two  and  a  half  years  ago.  It  was  one  of 
the  most  scandalous  things  that  ever  occurred  in  "Wash 
ington.  Yet  Creswell  is  still  held  close  in  the  councils 
of  the  present  administration. 

"  You  have  heard  of  Governor  Holden,  of  North 
Carolina.  You  know,  perhaps,  that  he  was  an  ultra  seces 
sionist  ;  that  he  did  his  best  to  educate  his  people  up  to 
the  doctrine  of  secession  that  carried  North  Carolina  out 


"THIS  IS  A  GOVERNME.\?T  OF  LAWS."  169 

of  the  Union  ;  that  he  was  an  ultra  Southern  man  in  all 
his  doctrines ;  that  finally,  when  the  war  closed,  and  he 
found  the  cause  of  secession  had  failed,  he  whipped 
around,  and  became  a  violent  Union  man,  BO  called,  and 
took  sides  with  the  victors ;  that  by  dint  of  military  and 
negro  aid  he  was  made  the  Governor  of  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  and  also  the  head  of  the  Union  League 
of  that  State,  which  embraced  almost  every  black  man 
within  its  limits ;  that  a  legislature,  elected  by  the  like 
means,  met  and  voted  away  bonds  of  the  State  to  the 
amount  of  nearly  $15,000,000 ;  that  this  man  assisted  in 
the  robbery  and  the  beggary  almost  of  his  people ;  that 
there  is  not  to-day  in  North  Carolina  a  hundred  miles  of 
good  railroad  to  be  seen  for  the  $15,000,000  that  were  ex 
pended  for  the  purpose  of  creating  them.  The  money 
was  stolen  bodily  by  various  people  who  were  Holden's 
friends,  and  with  his  assistance  and  approval.  An  elec 
tion  followed.  A  legislature  -opposed  to  him  was  elect 
ed.  He  was  impeached  and  convicted.  His  conviction 
was  accomplished  by  the  votes  of  Kepublicans  as  well  as 
Democrats  in  the  legislature.  He  fled  from  North  Caro 
lina  and  took  refuge  in  Washington,  where  a  requisition 
could  not  reach  him.  He  there  became  the  editor  of  a 
Grant  newspaper.  Now,  mark  you,  this  is  the  case  of  a 
man  who  had  connived  at  robbery,  who  fled  from  his  own 
outraged  people,  and  has  remained  away  from  them  ever 
since.  That  man,  with  that  record,  a  year  and  a  half  after 
these  events,  was  nominated  by  President  Grant  to  be 
our  minister  at  Peru.  This  is  another  case  of  General 
Grant's  appreciation  of  the  necessity  of  honesty. 

"  What  shall  I  say  of  Bullock,  of  Georgia— the  fellow 
who  went  down  there  and  robbed  those  people  out  of 
some  five  or  six  millions,  and  then  fled  to  Canada?  I 


LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

remember  perfectly  well  when  that  scoundrel  was  in 
Washington  endeavoring  to  procure  the  aid  of  Congress, 
and  did  procure  it,  to  get  soldiers  and  disperse  the  legis 
lature  that  would  have  impeached  and  removed  him.  lie 
had  the  presidential  ear.  But  they  could  not  withstand 
the  progress  of  public  opinion.  A  legislature  was  elected 
which  was  honest  in  its  sentiment.  Honest  men  were 
driven  together  by  their  sufferings,  independent  of  former 
political  views ;  and,  when  he  found  that  his  conduct  was 
to  be  inquired  into,  Bullock  ran  away,  and  never  will  go 
back  to  Georgia,  unless  he  goes  back  there  to  jail. 

"  What  shall  I  say  of  Bowen,  of  South  Carolina,  who, 
after  the  war,  became  a  violent  partisan  of  the  Northern 
government  ?  When  the  war  closed  and  his  party  was 
defeated,  he  went  to  the  strong  side.  This  man  came  to 
Congress.  He  disgraced  the  country  and  his  position  by 
selling  his  cadetships.  They  turned  him  out  of  Congress. 
He  went  back  to  South  Carolina  and  married  two  wives, 
having  them  both  living  at  the  same  time.  He  was  in 
dicted  for  bigamy  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  was 
convicted  by  a  jury  upon  which  were  negroes,  who  were 
his  particular  friends ;  and  he  had  not  been  in  jail  two 
weeks  before  General  Grant  takes  him  by  the  hand  and 
pardons  him,  just  as  Geary  pardons  this  man  Yerkes  and 
the  other  fellow  who  was  assisting  Hartranft  in  the  rob 
bery  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

"  What  shall  I  say  in  regard  to  the  discoveries  made 
in  the  city  of  New  York  by  a  committee  of  which  I  was 
a  member  during  the  last  winter  ?  What  shall  I  say  in 
regard  to  all  the  rascality  and  robberies  on  the  merchants 
of  New  York,  which  were  there  exposed  ?  Were  they 
not  proven  ?  Do  not  your  public  documents  show  you, 
not  by  statement  of  mine,  but  his  own  statement  under 


"THIS   IS   A   GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS."  1J1 

oath,  that  a  young  man,  formerly  one  of  General  Grant's 
own  aids,  Leet,  an  unknown,  obscure  man,  was  enabled, 
by  a  letter  written  and  signed  by  General  Grant,  to  go 
to  New  York  and  extort  from  the  collector  a  perquisite 
called  the  general-order  business,  by  which  he  was  ena 
bled  to  make  enormous  sums  annually  by  plundering  the 
merchants  in  overcharging  them  for  the  storage  and  the 
labor  on  their  goods.  Those  outrages  were  all  laid  before 
the  public  ;  they  were  all  printed  at  the  time.  The  most 
efficient  aid  that  that  committee  had  in  the  discovery  of 
frauds  in  New  York  was  through  Mr.  Greeley,  who  him 
self  came  as  a  witness  before  that  committee,  and  exposed 
the  dishonesty  of  the  Republican  party. 

"  But,  gentlemen,  all  these  things  appear  on  the  rec 
ord.  Leet  plundered  the  people  of  New  York.  General 
Grant  was  told  of  it.  His  former  friend,  Mr.  Alexander 
T.  Stewart,  informed  him  of  it.  There  was  no  ground 
to  presume  his  ignorance.  He  knew  it  all — that  a  young 
man,  not  knowing  a  soul  in  New  York,  going  there  with 
nothing  but  General  Grants  personal  recommendation, 
who  had  been  upon  his  staff,  connected  with  him  person 
ally,  had  abused  the  confidence  he  had  reposed  in  him, 
and  that  he  was  there  plundering  that  community.  The 
President  knows  that  fact  to-day  ;  he  knew  it  two  years 
ago ;  and  yet  he  has  never  lifted  his  finger  to  make  him 
disgorge  his  plunder  or  to  turn  him  out. 

"  Take,  further,  his  ideas  of  politics  as  developed  by 
his  friend,  Mr.  Thomas  Murphy,  of  New  York,  the  late 
collector.  Mr.  Murphy  seems  to  have  been  on  terms  of 
confidential  intimacy  with  General  Grant.  I  have  not 
the  time  nor  the  disposition  to  read  yon,  as  I  could  from 
the  public  documents,  Mr.  Murphy's  own  statements  in 
regard  to  his  acts,  or  to  read  you  the  conversations  which 


172  LIFE    OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

are  sworn  to  in  regard  to  Mr.  Murphy's  report  from  the 
President,  of  the  part  that  the  President  wished  the  gov 
ernment  officials  to  take  in  the  canvass,  but  they  amount 
to  this :  that  Mr.  Murphy  was  authorized  to  sell,  and  did 
sell  and  barter,  the  government  offices  in  the  custom 
house  at  New  York  in  exchange  for  party  power  and 
delegates  to  party  conventions  ;  that  he  made  merchan 
dise  of  the  public  offices  of  the  government  just  as  much 
as  any  marketman  sells  his  produce.  He  did  it  openly, 
notoriously,  so  that  all  knew  of  it.  Finally,  as  you  all 
know,  so  great  was  the  storm  of  public  feeling  on  the 
subject,  so  powerful  was  the  denunciation  of  Murphy's 
dishonesty  and  improper  action,  that  even  General  Grant 
was  forced  to  intimate  that  he  would  accept  his  resigna 
tion,  and  when  he  left  he  received  a  letter  of  the  most 
effusive  nature,  praising  Mr.  Murphy's  honesty  and  good 
conduct  in  the  public  service.  Indeed,  the  only  effect 
which  these  shocking  disclosures  seem  to  have  had  upon 
the  President  is,  that  he  ordered  the  prosecution  of  the 
merchants  who  had  been  compelled  to  pay  money  to  his 
corrupt  subordinates,  and  who  disclosed  the  truth  of  these 
abuses  before  the  committee.  What  is  the  President 
doing  to-day  in  Pennsylvania  ?  Is  he  not  sustaining  a 
man  running  for  governor  who  is  confessedly  corrupt,  in 
whose  aid  the  jails  of  the  country  are  emptied  in  order 
that  convicts  may  come  out  and  speak  in  his  favor,  the 
speech  in  his  favor  being  the  price  of  their  escape  from 
justice  ? 

"  In  all  that  wild  carnival  of  dishonesty  which  has  had 
no  parallel  in  human  history  before,  in  the  robbery  of  the 
Southern  States  by  the  adventurers,  black  and  white,  who 
have  settled  there  upon  those  unhappy  people,  when  pub 
lic  treasuries  are  robbed,  when  individuals  are  robbed, 


"THIS   IS  A  GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS."  173 

when  offices  are  bought  and  sold,  when  scandals  of  the 
most  infamous  nature  are  exposed,  constantly,  I  ask  you 
whether  one  word  has  come  in  a  presidential  message,  in 
a  presidential  speech,  or  in  a  presidential  paper  of  any 
kind,  to  rebuke  these  things  throughout  that  country  ? 
Not  one. 

"  Therefore  I  say  that  pecuniary  honesty,  simple,  rigid, 
and  plain,  which  the  humblest  comprehension  can  under 
stand,  should  be  the  corner-stone  of  a  government.  If  it 
is  not  so,  of  course  the  larger  the  sphere  of  action,  the 
more  gross  must  the  corruption  become.  What  hope 
have  we  with  an  administration  that  sees  no  wrong  in 
these  things  ?  While  I  do  not  propose  to  make,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  have  purposely  abstained  from  making  any 
charge  that  would  link  the  President  with  the  personal 
receipt  of  any  portion  of  these  ill-gotten  gains,  I  do  say 
without  fear  of  contradiction  that  no  rebuke  of  a  dishon 
est  man  in  or  out  of  office  can  be  found  in  the  official 
career  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant  as  President  of  the  United 
States." 

When  one  calls  to  memory  the  eight  years  of  Presi 
dent  Grant's  administration,  it  seems  almost  inconceiv 
able  that  the  American  people  could  have  borne  such 
things.  Violence  in  one  section  of  the  country,  fraud  and 
rapacity  in  another,  the  laws  and  the  Constitution  tram 
pled  under  foot,  and  the  Murphys,  the  Durells,  the  Leets, 
the  Caseys,  the  Bowens,  the  Belknaps,  and  the  whole 
swarm  whose  names  were  to  become  a  stench  in  men's 
nostrils,  not  merely  unwhipped  of  justice,  but  carrying 
high  their  brazen  foreheads,  as  the  chosen  friends  of  the 
Chief  Magistrate,  and  the  men  whom  he  delighted  to 
honor.  It  was  urged  as  a  noble  trait  in  the  President 
that  he  never  forgot  a  friend  or  a  service,  and  it  was  truly 


174:  I'IFE    OF   THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 


urged,  £^ay,  the  coarser  the  service,  the  more  vulgar  the 
friend,  the  more  certain  the  gratitude  and  the  more  sub 
stantial  the  reward. 

Those  were  the  times  that  tested  the  courage,  the  pa 
triotism,  and  the  endurance  of  the  minority  in  Congress. 
The  majority  seemed  to  think  that  they  were  above  all 
responsibility,  and  superior  to  law.  When  the  news  came 
that  De  Trobriand  with  his  soldiers  had  expelled  by  force 
the  lawful  members  of  a  State  legislature,  and  Sheridan's 
dispatch  followed,  asking  permission  to  deal  with  the 
Louisianians  as  banditti,  member  after  member  rose,  in 
either  House,  to  justify  the  acts.  When  the  minority, 
alarmed  at  the  rapid  strides  of  unlicensed  power,  proposed 
to  ask  of  the  President  what  information  he  had  upon  the 
subject,  they  were  tauntingly  told  that  the  Senate  "  had 
better  not  try  to  make  a  law  to  guide  the  acts  of  the  Pres 
ident  "  ;  that  the  President  might  give  the  desired  infor 
mation,  or  he  might  not,  and,  if  he  did  not,  "  what  were 
they  going  to  do  about  it  ?  "  That  was  the  sneering  re 
mark  of  the  Senator  from  Wisconsin.  In  those  times, 
patience,  full  debate  (when  it  was  allowed),  that  the  pub 
lic  at  least  might  know  what  was  going  on,  and  steady 
record  of  their  votes  against  obnoxious  measures,  were 
all  that  the  minority  could  do,  and  this  duty  they  faith 
fully  performed,  none  more  faithfully  than  Mr.  Bayard. 
When  the  admission  of  Pinchbeck  to  the  Senate  was  on 
the  verge  of  accomplishment,  he  remained  in  his  place  for 
twenty-eight  continuous  hours,  resisting  that  monstrous 
disgrace  and  wrong  ;  resisting,  not  only  then,  but  at  all 
times,  the  doctrine  that  this  is  something  other  than  a 
government  of  laws,  a  government  of  defined  powers,  a 
government  in  which,  while  majorities  rule,  minorities  are 
protected  by  the  shield  of  the  Constitution. 


"THIS   IS  A   GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS."  175 

Yet,  what  other  than  that  state  of  things  which  pre 
vailed  during  President  Grant's  administration  was  to  be 
expected  from  the  teachings  of  the  radical  party  ?  The 
beginnings  of  illegality  are  as  the  letting-out  of  water  ; 
the  little  breach  once  made,  swiftly  becomes  a  crevasse. 
Granted  that  the  Constitution  might  be  strained  a  little 
for  a  special  need  ;  that  a  little  unwarranted  power  might 
be  taken  in  a  case  of  emergency,  and  the  rest  followed  as 
a  logical  consequence.  Yet  many  well-meaning  citizens, 
who  viewed  with  abhorrence  the  carnival  of  misrule  of 
which  we  have  spoken,  still  thought  that  they  might, 

"To  do  a  great  good,  do  a  little  wrong," 

and  strain  the  limited  powers  to  gain  a  desirable  end. 

It  was  to  such  as  these  that  Mr.  Bayard  addressed 
such  warnings  as  those  with  which  he  began  his  speech 
of  February  26,  1874.  The  abuse  of  alcoholic  drinks  is  a 
great  and  most  deplorable  evil,  as  all  men  admit.  But 
many  worthy  men,  who  have  given  attention  to  the  sub 
ject,  have  grown  to  think  that  outside  of  that  there  is 
scarcely  any  evil  at  all ;  and  to  repress  it,  or  even  to  ex 
periment  in  repressing  it,  they  wrould  consent  to  a  far 
worse  abuse — the  abuse  of  unlawful  power.  And,  as 
another  set  of  gentlemen  thought  that  the  chief  duty  of 
Congress  was  to  devote  all  its  thought,  its  care,  its  solici 
tude,  to  making  the  negro  contented  and  happy,  so  these 
would  have  had  the  same  body  undertake  the  charge  of  the 
liquor-trade.  It  was  on  this  that  Mr.  Bayard  remarked : 

"  One  of  the  troubles  of  our  times  is  that  so  many 
very  well-meaning  and  respectable  persons  consider  that 
everything  that  is  right  in  itself  should  necessarily  be 
performed  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  forget 
ting  that  this  is  a  government  of  limited,  enumerated} 


170  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

and  delegated  powers,  and  that  the  desirability  of  a  mea 
sure  is  no  test  whatever  of  the  right  of  Congress  to  enact 
it  into  law.  I  believe,  sir,  that  it  is  an  indifference  to  this 
truth  and  it  is  a  disregard  of  this  truth  that  have  led  this 
country  into  most  of  the  difficulties  from  which  we  have 
suffered  and  which  still  surround  us." 

So  in  his  speech  on  the  appropriation  bill  (February 
26, 1879),  when  he  recalls  the  noble  struggle  that  the  mi 
nority  made  for  constitutional  liberty  in  1870  and  1871 : 

"  When  on  the  floor  of  this  Chamber  there  stood  with 
me  a  scanty  handful  of  men,  among  whom,  ever  conspic 
uous,  was  my  honored  friend  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Thurman], 
that  we  steadfastly  opposed  the  enactment  of  the  so-called 
enforcement  laws,  and  stood  here,  by  day  and  by  night, 
endeavoring,  by  strenuous  debate,  to  awaken  the  Ameri 
can  people  to  a  sense  of  the  dangers  contained  in  such 
legislation,  and  to  make  some  attempt,  vain  though  it 
should  be,  to  dissuade  the  great  party  majority  that  en 
acted  these  laws,  I  believed  then  that  those  laws  were 
arbitrary  ;  that  they  violated  the  spirit  of  justice  which 
laws  must  contain  in  order  to  be  useful  and  respected  ; 
that  they  were  violative  of  those  limitations  upon  federal 
power  which  the  Constitution  had  imposed.  I  then  en 
deavored  to  point  out  their  capability  for  gross  abuse  and 
injustice  ;  and  all  the  dangers  that  I  then  apprehended, 
and  the  injustice  and  the  mischief  which  such  laws  would 
necessarily  cause,  have  been  more  than  fulfilled  in  what 
we  have  witnessed  in  the  last  four  years. 

"  For  what  purpose  and  in  what  name  and  in  what 
cause  were  these  laws  enacted  ?  They  were  professed  to 
be  in  the  interest  of  peace  and  purity  of  elections.  Have 
they  been  productive  of  peace  ?  Have  they  been  produc 
tive  of  purity  ?  Have  the  agencies  which  the  administra- 


"THIS   IS  A   GOVERNMENT  OF  LAWS."  177 

tion  have  employed  to  carry  out  these  laws  been  such  as 
can,  with  common  honesty,  be  claimed  to  be  in  the  inter 
est  of  peace,  good  order,  and  purity  in  elections  ?  Have 
they  not  rather  been  proven  to  be  agencies  for  corruption 
and  for  the  grossest  intimidation  ?  I  ask,  plainly,  all  over 
this  country  have  these  laws  been  administered  in  the 
cause  of  public  justice,  or  have  they  been  administered  in 
the  cause  of  one  political  party  ?  In  all  the  millions  of 
money  that  have  been  appropriated  and  spent,  has  one 
dollar,  one  farthing  of  that  money,  ever  reached  any  but 
a  partisan's  hand  ?  Has  any  man,  but  the  members  of  one 
of  the  great  political  parties,  ever  felt  the  adverse  power 
of  this  legislation  ?  Has  any  man  but  a  member  of  one 
political  party  felt  his  dishonest  or  improper  action  re 
strained  by  this  legislation?  Can  the  records  of  any 
federal  court  show  any  indictment  found  or  prosecuted 
against  any  but  the  members  of  one  of  the  political  parties 
of  this  Union  ?  Can  any  senator  suggest  the  record  of  a 
single  case  in  which  this  unjust  and  partisan  discrimina 
tion  has  failed  to  be  made  ? 

"  I  said  I  intended  to  walk  in  the  path  of  law  and  the 
spirit  of  law,  and  to  find,  under  law,  remedies  for  all  in 
justice,  for,  in  my  belief,  one  danger  of  our  time  is  the 
confusion  in  the  public  mind  and  in  the  minds  of  honest 
men  of  the  spirit  and  meaning  of  the  laws  which  should 
protect  our  liberty.  Sir,  there  can  be  nothing  more  insi 
diously  dangerous  than  to  accomplish  injustice  under  the 
pretended  forms  of  justice,  nothing  more  dangerous  than 
to  overthrow  law  under  pretense  of  enforcing  law.  Laws 
perverted  from  their  meaning,  laws  in  which  the  letter  is 
followed  and  the  spirit  is  killed,  are  the  most  essential 
frauds  upon  a  free  government.  By  all  the  decisions  of 
the  courts,  by  the  decision  of  every  parliamentary  body  in 


178  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

a  free  country,  the  presence  of  armed  forces  at  the  polls 
of  popular  elections  ipso  facto  avoids  the  result  of  that 
election  at  the  demand  of  the  defeated  party.  To  my 
sorrow  as  an  American  be  it  said,  I  witnessed  the  other 
day  the  array  of  the  united  majority  of  senators  on  the 
other  side  of  this  chamber  in  favor  of  the  doctrine,  that 
in  time  of  profound  peace  it  should  be  lawful  to  bring  a 
standing  army  to  the  peaceful  polls  of  election — not  one 
voice  of  all,  not  one  man  in  that  array  of  intelligence  and 
ability,  was  found  to  be  willing  to  raise  his  voice  in  favor 
of  a  principle  so  plain  and  essential  that  I  had  not  believed 
there  could  be  a  difference  about  it  among  those  who  in 
tended  to  preserve  a  government  of  laws." 

And  he  concludes  with  words  that  should  sink  into 
the  heart  of  every  honest  American,  whatever  his  party, 
who  truly  loves  and  cherishes  his  country  and  his  liberty, 
nor  believes  that  what  our  fathers  bought  so  dearly  should 
be  lightly  flung  away :  "  Mr.  President,  I  believe  that  all 
over  this  country,  outside  of  those  heated  partisans  who 
make  up  the  rank  and  the  file  of  the  two  great  parties, 
there  stands  an  authoritative  mass  of  intelligent,  indepen 
dent,  upright,  liberty-loving  American  citizens,  who  will 
never  consent  that  the  principle  of  free  election,  that  great 
safety-valve,  that  great  American  substitute  for  revolu 
tion,  shall  be  invaded  or  overthrown,  directly  or  indirect 
ly.  When  the  American  people,  having  the  facts  and 
the  issue  broadly,  fairly,  and  openly  presented  to  them, 
shall  say  that  it  is  lawful  for  the  executive  branch  of  the 
government  to  have  unlimited  power  to  take  possession 
of  all  the  police  powers  of  any  State,  to  place  at  the  polls 
an  authority  paramount  to  any  which  the  State  could 
place  there,  officials  without  number,  beyond  the  power 
of  arrest,  officials  paramount  to  any  State  authority,  and 


"THIS   IS   A   GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS."  179 

so  go  through  the  form  of  an  election,  or  allow  the  people 
to  go  through  it,  in  the  grasp  of  such  a  mighty  power  as 
I  have  described — I  say  when  the  American  people  shall 
look  on  and  decide  in  favor  of  that,  then  my  hope  of  re 
publican  government  in  this  country  will  have  died  within 
rue.  I  do  not  believe  they  will  ever  so  decide.  I  do  not 
believe  that  they  are  prepared  to  part  with  their  liberties  ; 
I  do  not  believe  that,  when  fairly  and  honestly  and  straight 
forwardly  this  issue  is  presented  to  them,  there  will  be  a 
doubtful  voice  or  a  doubtful  expression  of  that  voice.  I 
do  not  believe  that  they  are  prepared  to  bid  farewell  to 
this  grand  system  of  republican  government  which  has  so 
dignified  humanity,  which  has  been  so  fair  and  so  just, 
so  glorious  and  so  noble,  which  has  given  the  plain  poor 
man  in  this  country  the  status  of  his  manhood,  and  recog 
nized  the  true  dignity  of  humanity  ;  I  do  not  believe  they 
will  part  with  all  this  at  the  bidding  of  any  political  party 
for  the  sake  of  continuing  itself  in  power.  And,  sir,  I 
can  only  say  that,  whether  it  be  with  the  great  majority, 
which  I  think  I  shall  find  with  me  in  that  issue,  or  whether 
it  be  in  the  feeblest  minority  that,  mindful  of  the  Consti 
tution  of  our  fathers,  mindful  of  the  liberty  for  which 
they  struggled,  mindful  of  the  principle  of  laws  under 
which  they  endeavored  to  establish  this  government,  I 
shall  ever  be  found  steadfast ;  for  I  know  that  it  involves 
the  vital  spirit  of  Republicanism,  without  which  our  sys 
tem  would  become  a  despotism,  or  sink  into  anarchy." 

From  such  principles  and  such  practice  as  have  been 
referred  to,  there  followed,  as  a  natural  consequence,  a 
habit  of  considering  all  restrictions  to  a  proposed  line  of 
action  as  vexatious  and  offensive  hindrances,  to  be  cleared 
away  as  expeditiously  as  possible.  True,  the  time  was 
not  ripe  yet  for  quite  as  summary  measures  everywhere 


180  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

as  had  been  used  in  some  of  the  States.  They  could  not 
put  a  Bond  or  a  Durell  on  the  Supreme  bench  of  the 
United  States,  or  send  a  De  Trobriand  to  purge  the 
House  of  Representatives  at  the  bayonet's  point ;  but  what 
they  could  do  they  did.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  had  long  been  consecrated  in  men's  minds 
as  the  inner  line  of  defense  against  wrong,  as  that  which 
in  our  whole  fabric  of  government  was  most  upright, 
most  stable,  most  august.  But  the  Supreme  Court  stood 
in  the  way  of  invasions  of  the  Constitution,  and  was 
therefore  at  once  the  object  of  attack.  They  spoke  of  it 
with  scarce  concealed  scorn,  talked  openly  of  "  repudiat 
ing  "  its  decisions,  if  these  threatened  their  plans,  and 
found  a  still  more  effective  mode  of  undermining  its  in 
fluence  and  lessening  its  title  to  respect.  A  decision 
against  the  constitutionality  of  the  legal-tender  act  stood 
in  their  way,  and  must  be  reversed.  How  was  the  revers 
al  accomplished  ?  Not  by  changing  the  opinion,  but  by 
changing  the  personnel  of  the  court.  The  number  of 
judges  was  increased,  and  a  gentleman  added  to  the  bench 
who  was  known  to  be  in  favor  of  the  act.  This,  and  the 
opportunity  given  by  the  resignation  of  another  judge, 
enabled  them  to  construct  such  a  court  as  they  wanted. 
To  say  that  this  only  differed  in  enormity  from  the  of 
fense  of  packing  a  jury  would  be  to  use  harsh  language  ; 
but  we  are  unable  to  frame  any  form  of  words  to  express 
a  distinction  so  refined.  But  there  was  still  a  minority 
in  the  Supreme  Court,  as  there  was  a  minority  in  Con 
gress,  and  the  legislation  that  would  have  confounded  all 
the  departments  of  the  government  and  swept  away  every 
safeguard  of  the  Constitution  was  not  permitted  to  go  on 
unchecked. 
"  Next  in  importance  to  the  supremacy  of  law  is  the 


"THIS  IS  A   GOVERNMENT   OF   LAWS."  181 

stability  of  law,  and  on  this  point,  too  often  overlooked, 
Mr.  Bayard  has  insisted  with  great  force.  A  great  evil 
in  this  country  has  been  the  habit  of  temporary  legisla 
tion.  A  law  may  be  just  in  itself,  it  may  excellently 
answer  a  temporary  purpose,  and  yet  it  may  be  a  very 
unwise  law,  because,  that  purpose  once  accomplished,  it 
becomes  obsolete,  and  is  either  a  hindrance  to  justice, 
thus  defeating  the  end  of  all  law,  or  its  breach  is  con 
nived  at,  thus  bringing  law  into  contempt.  Of  course, 
the  imperfections  and  the  changing  conditions  of  human 
society  necessitate  changes  in  legislation ;  but  what  Mr. 
Bayard  has  urged  has  been  that  legislation  should  be 
made  as  stable  as  possible,  and  that  permanence  should 
always  be  an  end  kept  in  view.  Some  of  his  remarks  on 
this  subject  have  already  been  cited,  and  he  adverts  to  it 
in  his  speech  on  the  bill  "  to  strengthen  public  credit "  : 

"  I  think  that  it  will  destroy,  in  a  great  measure,  that 
certainty  which  it  should  be  the  object  of  all  legislators 
as  well  as  judges  to  reach.  .  .  .  Peace  and  certainty 
ought  to  be  the  ends  of  litigation  as  well  as  legislation." 

So  in  his  speech  of  December  19,  1873,  the  proposed 
repeal  of  the  bankrupt  law  being  under  consideration : 

"  The  trouble  of  our  legislation  is  its  want  of  stability. 
It  is  this  continual  yielding  to  an  ignorant  and  popular 
demand  for  change  when  the  necessity  for  change  does 
not  exist.  Our  people  do  not  let  their  laws  stand  long 
enough  to  understand  their  general  result,  their  ultimate 
effect.  A  law  can  not  be  judged  by  single  cases  of  its 
influence  and  operation ;  it  must  be  judged  as  to  its  gen 
eral  policy  after  years  of  experience." 

But  Mr.  Bayard  is  not  one  of  those  who  imagine  that 
in  legislation  alone  is  a  panacea  for  all  human  evils,  and 
think  that  men  are  to  be  made  good  and  happy  by  a  stat- 


182  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

ute  framed  to  meet  every  case  where  they  are  bad  or  un 
happy.  He  has  always  insisted  upon  the  great  principle 
of  the  "unwritten  law" — not  "a  higher  law"  which 
releases  men  from  legal  obligation  when  it  becomes  in 
convenient  ;  but  rather  a  lower  law,  a  law  which  is  the 
foundation  of  all  legislation  that  is  at  once  both  just  and 
wise.  Of  this  he  has  given  his  views  so  forcibly  in  his 
address  at  Cambridge,  June  -26,  18TT,  that  we  can  not  do 
better  than  to  transcribe  a  part  of  his  remarks : 

"  It  is  the  most  difficult  of  all  problems  in  the  science 
of  government  to  determine  when  and  where  and  how  it 
is  wise  to  interfere  by  the  authority  of  law  with  the  mo 
tives  which  are  usually  called  the  natural  motives  of  men 
—as  it  is  evident  that  the  force  of  laws  and  their  value 
depend  almost  entirely  upon  the  assent  or  the  consent  with 
which  those  to  whom  they  are  addressed  shall  meet  them. 

"The  law  can  not  prescribe  the  performance  of  the 
virtues ;  but  it  is  addressed  to  the  reason,  and  seeks  to 
influence  human  action  by  and  through  the  will,  by 
presenting  an  alternative  to  each  prohibited  act.  More 
than  thus  appealing  to  the  reason  and  presenting  an  alter 
native  the  law  can  not  do ! 

"It  is  this  consciousness  of  the  limited  power  of  the 
law  which  should  instruct  us  that  it  must  be  addressed  to 
reason,  and  command  the  assent  of  all  reasonable  minds ; 
otherwise,  interminable  discontent  and  confusion  must 
ensue. 

"  Having  thus  stated  the  impossibility  of  commanding 
a  course  of  human  action  by  the  instrumentality  of  writ 
ten  laws,  let  me  now  remind  you  how  infinitely  wider  is 
the  sphere,  and  more  permeating  and  constant  the  influ 
ence,  of  the  UNWRITTEN  LAW  ;  by  which  I  do  not  mean 
lex  non  scripta,  the  common  law  of  custom,  acquiescence, 


-THIS  IS  A  GOVERNMENT  OF  LAWS."  183 

and  judicial  decisions,  but  the  great  moral  law  i  written,' 
as  Coke  said,  '  with  the  finger  of  God  on  the  heart  of 
man.'  '  The  law  of  laws,  truly  and  properly  to  all  man 
kind  fundamental,  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  all  gov 
ernment,'  as  Milton  called  it. 

u  Whatever  influence  written  laws  obtain,  they  gather 
from  the  secret  forces  of  nature  which  have  been  consid 
ered  in  their  framing;  and  the  fail  are  of  so  many  laws 
passed  in  disregard  of  natural  laws  should  instruct  us  in 
this  great  truth. 

"  Persecutions  for  opinion's  sake  have  always  increased 
heresy ;  protection-laws  have  injured  trade ;  poor-laws 
have  increased  poverty,  and  usury  laws  have  raised  the 
rate  of  interest.  This  is  common  experience.  I  am  sen 
sible  of  the  difficulty  of  providing  a  definition  for  the  un 
written  law,  which  can  not  be  reduced  to  formulation  or 
codification.  Human  government  can  never  be  subjected 
to  geometrical  exactness,  and  can  only  be  measured  by 
approximations.  Form  and  method  will  do  only  for  things 
of  form  and  method. 

"  There  is,  after  all,  a  unanimity  of  the  entire  human 
race  in  the  great  rules  of  duty  and  the  fundamental  prin 
ciples  of  morals ;  the  general  sympathies  of  mankind  flow 
together  and  a  general  judgment  is  arrived  at.  There  are 
certain  principles  to  which  all  nations  do  homage,  and  the 
majesty  and  authority  of  virtue  are  derived  from  this 
common  consent." 

u  We  need  the  force  of  an  unwritten  law  to  establish 
in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  American  people  a  sense 
of  the  dignity  and  the  impartiality  of  the  government  of 
the  Union  ;  a  general  and  habitual  reverence  for  its  jus 
tice,  and  a  spirit  of  proud  obedience  to  its  laws,  not  mere 
slavish  and  sullen  submission  to  its  power. 


184-  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

"  To  aid  in  the  establishment  of  such  a  sentiment  we 
need  the  recognition  of  the  equality  of  the  States  in  our 
constitutional  scheme,  a  public  opinion  that  shall  discour 
age  and  prevent  assaults  upon  the  credit  or  good  repute 
of  any  portion  of  the  Union,  and  a  popular  resentment 
that  shall  visit  any  man  or  body  of  men  exhibiting  hostil 
ity  and  malevolence  toward  his  fellow  countrymen. 

"  In  other  words,  we  need  an  invigorated  and  realizing 
sense  of  the  value  of  the  Union  to  the  happiness,  security, 
and  honor  of  all  its  members,  so  that,  perceiving  their 
freedom,  they  will  use  it  to  strengthen  the  government 
whose  institutions  are  the  source  of  their  freedom,  that 
they  may  realize  the  truth  of  the  exclamation  of  Charles 
James  Fox, 

4  Liberty  is  order,  Liberty  is  strength ; ' 

that  laws  of  repression  may  be  regarded  with  distrust  in 
the  knowledge  that  public  virtue  owes  more  to  freedom 
than  to  jealousy  and  restraint." 


CHAPTER  X. 

DEFENSE    OF   THE    SOUTH. 

THE  war  was  fought  for  the  Union.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  hopes  or  desires  of  some  of  the  leaders,  the 
people  of  the  North  contended  for  the  Union  alone.  No 
other  motive  would  have  brought  them  to  bear  patiently 
the  burdens  of  such  a  strife,  and  to  pour  out  their  blood 
on  a  hundred  fields  of  battle,  but  that  devotion  to  the 
Union  which  was  intensified  by  the  fear  of  its  destruction 
until  love  almost  became  idolatry.  And,  when  they  con 
quered  at  last,  they  had  a  right  to  the  prize  they  had  so 
dearly  won.  Not  merely  justice  and  consistency,  but 
good  policy  pointed  to  the  same  course.  The  war  had 
swept  a  great  part  of  the  land  with  devastation,  had 
wasted  the  population,  paralysed  many  industries,  made 
bankrupt  eleven  States,  and  loaded  the  rest  with  debt. 
The  only  road  to  renewed  prosperity,  north  and  south, 
lay  in  healing  the  wounds  of  the  past ;  in  such  a  course 
of  action  as  would  encourage  industry,  protect  thrift,  re 
store  confidence,  and  bring  back  peace  over  all  the  land. 

The  South,  beaten  on  the  field  of  battle,  had  accepted 
in  good  faith  the  result  of  that  arbitrament,  and  was 
ready  to  lay  new  foundations  for  a  new  future.  All  had 
to  be  organized  anew.  Capital  was  gone,  credit  almost 
gone,  the  labor  of  years  and  of  generations  swept  away, 
and  scarce  anything  left  but  the  soil  and  the  climate. 


186  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 

Their  whole  system  of  labor  was  broken  up,  and  the  pop 
ulation  of  agricultural  laborers,  deceived  by  wild  reports 
and  false  hopes  held  out  to  them  by  designing  persons, 
could  not  be  reorganized.  Waiting  the  time  when  the 
lands  of  their  former  masters  should  be  divided  among 
them,  they  nocked  to  the  towns,  and  there  huddled  in 
squalid  misery  and  vice,  expectant  of  the  day  when  an 
act  of  Congress  or  a  Presidential  proclamation,  such  ae 
had  declared  the  abolition  of  slavery,  should  declare  the 
abolition  of  the  curse  of  Adam. 

Sorely  tried,  but  not  despairing,  the  people  set  to 
work  to  rebuild  their  fallen  fortunes  under  new  condi 
tions.  Great  estates,  no  longer  manageable,  were  di 
vided  ;  a  system  of  small  farming  introduced ;  capitalists 
from  the  North  and  from  abroad,  seeing  the  opportunity, 
began  to  invest  their  money  in  mines,  in  mills,  in  fac 
tories,  in  railroads,  and  thus  to  give  employment  to  indus 
try,  and  develop,  as  they  never  had  been  developed,  the 
resources  of  the  country.  For  the  South,  devoted  too 
exclusively  to  the  production  of  a  few  great  staples,  had 
scarcely  touched  the  treasure  of  natural  wealth  with 
which  Providence  had  so  bountifully  enriched  her.  Her 
mines,  of  unsurpassed  richness,  had  never  been  explored. 
Her  raw  materials  were  sent  a  thousand  miles  to  be 
worked  up,  and  manufactured  articles,  which,  might  have 
been  made  at  home,  brought  at  heavy  cost  from  distant 
lands.  Many  of  her  richest  valleys,  untapped  by  rail 
roads  or  canals,  had  been  almost  smothered  in  the  super 
fluity  of  abundance  for  which  there  was  no  outlet.  With 
all  the  drawbacks  we  have  before  mentioned,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  prosperity  would  have  returned  wTith  magical 
quickness,  had  things  been  allowed  to  take  their  natural 
course. 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  SOUTH.  187 

But  this  prosperity,  in  which  every  American  had  an 
interest,  was  only  to  be  had  through  the  renewal  of  har 
mony  between  the  States,  the  reign  of  peace,  order,  and 
law,  and  the  restoration  of  the  Southern  States  to  their 
equal  place  in  the  constitutional  Union.  Every  disad 
vantage,  every  disability  laid  upon  those  States  were  so 
many  obstacles  to  this.  And  we  believe  that  the  senti 
ment  of  the  whole  country,  so  soon  as  the  excitement  left 
by  the  war  had  given  place  to  calm  reflection,  was  strong 
ly  in  favor  of  this  wise  and  liberal  policy. 

But  this  would  by  no  means  have  suited  the  purposes 
of  the  radical  leaders.  A  restored  Union  was  the  very 
last  thing  they  wanted.  As  their  party  had  owed  its  ex 
istence  to  agitation  and  sectional  hate,  so  in  peace  and 
concord  they  foresaw  its  certain  death.  Destructive  in 
its  principles  and  in  its  origin,  it  had  no  policy  to  justify 
its  continuance  for  an  hour  in  a  land  of  peace,  order,  and 
equal  laws. 

For  parties,  as  for  individuals,  self-preservation  is  the 
first  law  of  nature.  To  perpetuate  the  radical  party,  the 
"  old  war  feeling  "  must  be  revived.  The  Union  must  not 
be  restored,  it  must  be  "  reconstructed."  And  the  mea 
sures  which  they  devised  for  this  reconstruction  were 
such  as  deprived  all  those  who  had  a  real  interest  in  the 
prosperity  of  the  South  of  any  share  or  influence  in  the 
government,  and  placed  all  office  and  power  in  the  hands 
of  negroes,  renegades,  or  unscrupulous  adventurers.  They 
did  not  expect  the  Southern  people  to  bear  these  things 
patiently :  they  expected  and  hoped  for  resistance ;  and 
every  expression  of  impatience,  every  struggle  to  be  rid 
of  this  crushing  oppression  and  this  plague  of  unclean 
and  venomous  parasites,  was  seized  upon  as  a  pretext  for 
declamation  about  "  renewing  the  rebellion,"  "  traitorous 
9 


188  LIFE   OP  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

conspiracies,"  etc.,  with  the  inference  that  only  by  con 
tinuing  the  radicals  in  power  could  the  flames  of  civil 
war  be  kept  from  bursting  out  again.  The  whites  must 
be  disarmed,  lest  they  should  massacre  the  negroes ;  tho 
negroes  must  be  armed  and  organized  to  protect  them 
selves  against  the  whites.  The  "carpet-bag"  govern 
ments,  with  their  grotesque  legislatures,  plundered  and 
helped  to  plunder  the  States,  and,  not  content  with  steal 
ing  all  that  there  was  to  steal,  by  means  of  fraudulent 
issues  of  bonds  thrust  their  rapacious  claws  into  tluj 
pockets  of  unborn  generations.  At  all  this  carnival  <K 
misrule  and  wrong,  the  radical  leaders  rejoiced,  because 
the  indignant  protests,  the  inevitable  disquiet,  could  all 
be  turned  to  profitable  account. 

Almost  the  earliest  utterance  of  Mr.  Bayard  in  th<» 
Senate  was  in  opposition  to  these  so-called  reconstruction 
acts,  on  April  9,  1869.  In  it  he  thus  points  out  the, 
character  and  tendencies  of  this  legislation  : 

"  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  condition  of  the  peo 
ple  of  these  three  Southern  States  so  called.  I  could  no ; 
trust  myself  to  do  it,  and  run  through  the  dreary, 
wretched  catalogue  of  wrongs  to  which  they  have  beei  i 
subjected.  It  was  truly  said  by  the  Senator  from  Oregoi  i 
[Mr.  Williams],  in  reply  to  a  remark  of  the  Senator  fron 
New  York  [Mr.  Conkling],  that  it  was  too  late  upon  tlm 
floor  to  talk  of  good  faith  to  the  people  of  the  Southen 
States.  Alas !  sir,  that  is  too  true  ;  for  it  would  be  idle 
to  talk  of  keeping  faith  when  the  lips  that  profess  it  have 
violated  it  so  often  toward  them. 

""What  are  these  communities  against  which  your 
legislation  has  been  leveled  ?  They  are  States  when  you 
can  use  them  for  a  party  end.  You  remand  them  to  the 
condition  of  conquered  provinces  when  you  think  they 


DEFENSE   OF  THE  SOUTH.  189 

may  slip  from  your  grasp  and  the  sentiment  of  their 
people  stands  in  defiance  to  the  wishes  of  your  party. 

u  I  do  not  propose  to  speak  of  the  effect  of  this  law 
(if  it  be  worthy  of  that  name)  upon  the  three  communi 
ties  to  which  it  is  addressed.  Remembering  the  claims 
that  are  ma.de  for  the  progress  of  mankind,  the  beneficent 
influences  of  Christianity,  the  peculiar  claims  for  moral 
and  intellectual  leadership  so  exclusively  urged  by  gentle 
men  representing  the  dominant  majority  on  the  floor  of 
this  Senate,  one  might  expect  an  enunciation  of  a  policy 
founded  upon  some  recognition  of  the  true  qualities 
which  go  to  make  a  State.  But  no,  sir.  Instead  of  that, 
we  have  from  the  lips  of  this  party  of  progress  no  an 
nouncement  of  a  broad,  or  of  a  high,  or  of  a  Christian 
character ;  but  there  comes  the  same  old  stern  pagan  dec 
laration,  Vce  metis  !  The  history  of  legislation  for  the 
last  four  years  in  this  country  has  proven  that  woe  indeed 
is  the  portion  of  the  conquered. 

"  But,  sir,  I  rose  to  speak  more  of  the  effect  of  this 
amendment  upon  the  other  States,  against  whom  no  pretext 
raised  by  a  condition  of  war  and  revolution  can  be  urged. 
I  speak  for  the  State  which  I  have  the  honor  in  part  to 
represent  on  this  floor,  and  I  here  declare  that  your  pro 
posed  submission  of  the  fifteenth  amendment  to  the  un- 
trammeled  vote  of  the  different  States  is  turned  to  dust 
and  ashes  when  you  yourselves  create  the  votes  that  shall 
overcome  the  natural  majority  against  you.  Congress,  by 
its  own  terms,  usurps  the  power  to  cast  the  votes  of  three 
States  in  the  interests  of  a  partisan  majority ;  and  that 
you  call  a  ratification  under  the  Constitution  of  an  amend 
ment  to  the  fundamental  law.  .  .  . 

"  If  I  know  aught  of  the  government  under  which  we 
live,  it  is  the  elective  franchise,  it  is  the  process  of  carrying 


190  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

on  government  by  the  elective  system,  that  marks  it  from 
its  first  organization  to  its  last  act.  It  is  a  power  that 
must  be,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  the  controlling 
power,  because  the  election  is  your  test  of  power,  of  law 
in  every  shape  and  at  every  stage  of  your  country's  gov 
ernment.  That  power  you  propose  to  take  from  the 
States  and  deposit  with  the  federal  government ;  to  con 
solidate  the  power  of  all  powers,  that  which  underlies  and 
creates  all  powers ;  and  that  you  propose  to  place  in  the 
hands  of  Congress.  There  never  was  a  graver  question, 
there  never  was  an  act  which  will  affect  the  whole  struc 
ture  and  genius  of  our  government  to  the  extent  that  this 
must,  should  it  succeed  in  obtaining  the  consent  of  the 
people  of  this  country. 

"  It  has  been  demonstrated  before  this  Senate  in  a 
manner  that  could  not  be  and  has  not  been  replied  to,  by 
my  honorable  friend,  the  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Thur- 
man],  that  by  the  amendment  of  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Indiana  [Mr.  Morton]  you  do  coerce  the  choice,  not 
only  of  the  Southern  States,  which  is  a  barefaced  act  of 
simple  power,  but  you  coerce  the  sentiment  of  every  North 
ern  State  under  your  pretended  power  of  governing  the 
Southern  States.  Talk  of  the  free  choice  of  Indiana,  or 
Ohio,  or  New  York !  What  is  it  when  a  Congress  can  by 
law  insist  that  the  votes  of  certain  States  shall  be  cast  in 
opposition  to  it  ?  All  freedom  is  gone.  Sir,  when  Con 
gress  adopts  such  a  measure  as  this,  it  is  doing  nothing  less 
than  playing  with  cogged  dice.  It  is  the  intention  there 
fore,  by  a  measure  like  this,  to  destroy,  first,  all  shadow  of 
freedom  in  the  exercise  of  their  opinions  by  the  people 
of  these  three  States,  and  next,  having  destroyed  that,  to 
make  their  votes  the  instrument  whereby  you  crush  out 
the  sentiment  of  the  Northern  States.  Per  fas  aut  nefas 


DEFENSE   OF  THE  SOUTH.  191 

seems  to  me  to  be  the  rule  by  which  this  amendment  is 
to  be  forced  upon  the  American  people ;  and  the  great 
question  will  yet  come  up — it  can  not  be  long  kept  down 
— how  any  law,  how  any  amendment  obtained  by  means 
like  this,  can  be  held  binding  upon  the  conscience  of  a 
people  who  have  either  the  sense  or  the  manhood  to  re 
main  free. 

"  It  is,  therefore,  that  I  object  to  the  whole  of  this 
measure,  and  I  rise  here  in  my  place  to  protest  against  its 
passage.  While  affecting  to  direct  it  against  those  un 
happy  people  whom  the  fortunes  of  war  have  placed  in 
your  hands,  you  use  the  power  so  lawlessly  held,  so  ruth 
lessly  exercised,  to  strike  down  freedom  of  choice  in  the 
very  States  which  you  profess  to  treat  as  equals,  and  en 
titled  equally  with  yourselves  in  having  a  voice  in  saying 
how  the  government  shall  be  conducted. 

"  And  even  when  this  is  done,  when  these  States  rati 
fy  this  amendment,  giving  your  party  the  advantage  of 
having-  three  votes  of  those  States,  then  what  comes  ?  Is 
the  end  yet  to  these  people  ?  Are  they,  even  then,  States 
entitled  to  representation  ?  Not  so,  sir,  for  I  understand 
another  amendment  has  been  presented  and  adopted,  that 
again  they  must  present  themselves  before  their  captors, 
again  pass  beneath  their  bow  and  spear,  to  learn  what 
new  terms  may  yet  be  exacted  before  they  shall  be  admit 
ted  to  representation  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress.  I 
do  not  suppose  that  any  opposition  of  mine,  or  of  those 
with  whom  I  act  in  this  body,  can  have  any  effect  upon 
this  vote ;  but  justice  to  myself,  and  justice  to  my  State, 
urged  me  to  say  what  I  have  said,  and  I  believe  it  to  be 
true  in  respect  to  this  measure  now  before  the  Senate, 
which  I  aver  to  be  a  most  dishonest  act  of  legislation."  * 

*  The  bill  passed  the  same  day :  yeas,  44 ;  nays,  9. 


192  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.  BAYARD. 

In  December  of  the  same  year  a  bill  was  before  the 
Senate  "  to  perfect  the  reconstruction  of  Georgia."  Geor 
gia  had  already  ratified  the  fourteenth  amendment ;  but; 
the  Legislature  had  decided  that  negroes,  though  entitled 
to  vote,  were  not  eligible  as  members  of  .its  body.  Sena 
tor  Morton,  therefore,  offered  an  amendment  to  the  effect 
that  the  legislature  should  be  provisional  only,  until  it 
had  ratified  the  fifteenth  amendment  also,  and  members 
of  Congress  from  Georgia  had  been  admitted  to  their 
seats.  Mr.  Bayard,  in  reply,  argued  that  the  principle 
that  Congress  may  usurp  the  powers  of  State  legisla 
tures  is  as  flagrant  a  wrong  and  outrage  to  the  North 
ern  as  to  the  Southern  people ;  and  that,  in  view  of 
the  continual  aggressions  of  the  federal  power,  they  were 
creating  a  most  dangerous  precedent.  He  then  pro 
ceeds  : 

"  This  whole  question  of  suffrage,  whether  for  negroes 
or  for  whites,  or  for  white  men  or  women,  is,  after  all,  the 
great  question  of  our  time  in  this  country.  It  is  the 
question  that  underlies  all  others.  We  have  an  elective 
government  proceeding  upon  that  principle  and  doctrine 
from  its  first  to  its  last  act ;  and  that  power  is  now  sought 
by  the  fifteenth  amendment  to  be  consolidated  into  the 
hands  of  Congress,  that  the  actual  government  shall  ob 
tain  the  control  of  the  qualification  of  voters  in  all  the 
various  States.  I  regard  it  as  most  unhappy ;  I  regard  it 
as  the  most  revolutionary  measure  in  its  effect  that  has 
ever  yet  been  presented  for  passage  to  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  or  to  the  people  of  the  States.  If  it 
were  an  ordinary  amendment,  my  objection  to  the  method 
by  which  its  adoption  is  sought  to  be  obtained  would 
apply;  but  it  is  an  extraordinary  amendment — one  that 
will  change,  in  my  opinion,  the  very  character  of  our  gov- 


DEFENSE   OF  THE  SOUTH.  193 

eminent.  I  say  that  it  is  monstrous  that  the  people  of  the 
various  States  should  not  have  the  fullest  and  freest  ex 
pression  of  their  will  on  the  subject.  And  yet,  look  at 
what  in  substance  has  been  done  and  what  is  proposed  to 
be  done.  It  is  to  turn  the  question  of  choice  into  a  mere 
farce.  It  is  '  your  money  or  your  life  ! '  to  the  Southern 
States,  and  the  Northern  States  are  to  be  made  the  victims 
of  the  weakness  and  inability  of  the  Southern  States  to 
maintain  themselves  and  their  constitutional  rights  on  this 
subject. 

"  Mr.  President,  I  feel  most  deeply  my  inability,  my 
want  of  preparation  in  the  present  case,  to  say  what  I 
should  like  to  have  the  opportunity  of  saying  in  opposi 
tion  to  this  bill.  It  is  not  that  1  believe  that  anything 
that  may  come  from  the  feeble  minority  in  this  body, 
and  I  its  feeblest  member,  could  have  any  effect  in  stay 
ing  legislation  which  has  been  decreed  as  a  party  neces 
sity.  I  would  most  sincerely  desire  to  have  every  act  of 
mine  and  every  vote  of  mine  tested  by  the  limitations  of 
the  federal  Constitution.  I  would  have  no  questionable 
measure  passed,  whether  it  stood  for  or  against  the  acci 
dent  of  the  hour  with  which  my  political  affiliations  were 
connected.  It  is  with  that  reason  and  following  that  idea 
that  I  have  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Senate  for  the 
time  I  have  on  this  subject. 

"It  is  because  I  believe  that  this  act  is  an  unfair  and 
an  unjust  act  to  the  people  of  the  community  against 
which  it  is  directed ;  it  is  remanding  them  back  to  mili 
tary  power  only;  it  is  adding  conditions  which  at  that 
time  you  had  not  considered  or  invented  or  prescribed 
for  them.  Unjust  and  unwarrantable  as  is  this  bill  to 
ward  them,  it  tells  with  equal  injustice  against  the  people 
of  other  States,  whose  will  is  that  this  constitutional 


194:  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

amendment  should  not  be  adopted.     Therefore  it  is  tin  it 
I  object  to  the  passage  of  the  bill." 

The  oppressed  States  were  anxious  for  representation 
in  Congress,  where,  at  least,  they  might  hope  for  some 
redress  if  their  voices  could  be  heard.  The  problem  the'i 
was  how  to  limit  and  control  this  representation  in  sue  i 
ways  as  to  exclude,  if  possible,  every  man  who  really  rep 
resented  the  people  and  the  interests  of  the  State.  Th  3 
language  of  the  Constitution  providing  for  all  the  subject 
of  representation  was  plain  beyond  the  possibility  of  mis 
understanding  ;  but  the  Constitution  had  long  ceased  to 
be  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  party  in  power.  In  Feb 
ruary,  1870,  Mississippi  being  then  an  applicant  for  rep 
resentation,  the  radical  members  of  both  houses,  of  whom 
Senator  Morton  was  the  acknowledged  leader,  took  tin; 
ground  that,  under  that  section  of  the  Constitution  whicl 
guaranteed  to  every  State  "  a  republican  form  of  govern 
ment,"  a  majority  in  Congress  was  entitled  to  define  re 
publican  government  at  their  pleasure,  and  thus  to  have 
it  in  their  power  to  remodel  or  exclude  a  State  at  their 
will. 

To  this  strange  assumption  of  power  Mr.  Bayard  re 
plied  in  his  speech  of  February  15.  After  reviewing  the 
course  and  the  arguments  of  the  opposite  side,  he  proceeds : 

"  The  meaning  of  the  words  in  a  written  charter 
of  government  is  all-important.  It  includes  everything. 
Give  a  man  power  to  use  words  in  what  meaning  he 
pleases,  and  you  destroy  any  government  and  any  limi 
tation  that  was  ever  devised.  First,  the  senator  would 
construe  the  word  '  guarantee,'  and  he  would  claim  that 
to  be  an  unlimited  grant  of  power  to  create  and  mold 
originally  the  institutions  of  a  State,  not  a  power  to 
fulfill  the  stipulations  of  a  third  party  in  case  of  his  de- 


DEFENSE   OF  THE   SOUTH.  195 

fault,  which  is  what  I  understand  a  guarantee  to  mean. 
It  is  a  word  plainly  intended  to  be  used  in  its  natural  and 
restricted  sense,  but  by  the  senator's  advance  and  his 
progress  of  definition  is  made  pregnant  with  capacities 
and  powers  never  dreamed  of  by  those  who  placed  it 
where  it  stands  in  the  Constitution.  Constructions  of  the 
Constitution  have  been  strict  and  liberal,  the  latter  under 
the  doctrine  of  the  implication  of  powers ;  but  here  is 
proposed  something  new  and  far  more  dangerous — a 
power  to  use  words  in  any  sense  confessedly  not  intend 
ed  by  those  who  placed  them  in  the  written  charter  of 
government,  in  which,  and  in  which  alone,  Congress 
finds  the  enumeration  of  its  just  powers." 

After  enumerating  the  various  arbitrary  conditions 
imposed  by  the  bill,  and  showing  that,  so  far  from  "  guar 
anteeing  a  republican  form  of  government,"  they  would 
make  such  a  government  absolutely  impossible,  he  con 
tinues  : 

"But,  Mr.  President,  after  all,  the  conditions  con 
tained  in  this  bill,  these  shackles  sought  to  be  riveted 
upon  the  necks  and  limbs  of  the  people  of  Virginia  and 
of  Mississippi,  are  but  incidents  to  the  whole  system  pur 
sued  by  Congress,  and  called  'reconstruction.'  It  has 
often  seemed  to  me  only  foolish  to  be  straining  at  these 
legislative  gnats  when  camels  had  gone  down  the  throat 
of  Congress  with  such  apparent  ease  and  frequency. 
After  all,  sir,  what  bald  humbugs  and  wretched  shams 
are  your  reconstructed  governments  and  your  '  resusci 
tated  States,'  as  they  have  been  termed  in  the  course  of 
this  debate  !  T\That  honest  man  but  must  laugh  in  scorn 
at  these  specimens  of  radical  manufacture,  set  up  here 
as  republican  States  !  They  are  the  creations  of  violence 
and  revolution,  based  upon  the  denial  of  every  underly- 


196  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

ing  principle  of  our  original  government.  They  are  the 
products  of  ruthless  military  rule,  of  fraud  and  force  con  - 
bined.  The  intelligence  and  wealth  and  moral  worth  of 
all  these  communities  are  utterly  proscribed,  and  igno 
rance  and  profligacy  exalted  to  high  places  of  power." 

And  he  closes  his  remarks  : 

"  The  Southern  States  were  overthrown  in  their  strug 
gle  for  a  separate  national  existence.  Heroes  of  tin 
South  gave  up  their  swords  to  heroes  of  the  North,  who 
received  their  paroles  of  honor,  which  have  ever  sinc3 
been  kept  inviolate.  Ghastly  and  dreadful  as  were  th  3 
wounds  inflicted  in  that  terrible  struggle,  yet,  at  its  close, 
there  stood  the  great  vis  medicatrix  naturce  ready  and  abli 
to  draw  together  the  ragged  edges,  bind  up  the  lacerated 
parts,  and  let  them  heal  by  '  the  first  intention.'  Time, 
too,  who  lessens  every  human  grief,  would  have  covered 
with  his  wings  much  of  the  natural  bitterness  engendered 
in  such  a  strife,  and  steeped  it  in  oblivion.  If  a  wise  and 
generous  policy  had  in  1865  been  proposed  and  followed 
by  Congress  toward  those  who  so  lately  had  confronted 
them  in  arms,  but  who  had  so  fully  and  wholly  surren 
dered  the  argument  of  force,  and  had  freely  given  the 
most  unmistakable  evidence  and  pledges  of  their  willing 
ness  to  accept  the  situation,  and  conform  their  former 
pretensions  to  the  logical  demands  of  events,  how  easy 
and  how  certain  would  have  been  the  restoration  of  thai 
Union  so  dear  to  the  American  heart  ? 

"But,  senators  of  the  radical  party,  you  prevented 
this  l  consummation  so  devoutly  to  be  wished,'  and  did  it 
for  party  ends.  The  South  was  down,  and  when  she  was 
down  you  struck  her.  Your  blows  were  foul  blows,  and 
were  not  given  in  a  fair  fight.  All  Christendom  cried 
shame  upon  you  as  you  inflicted  them.  You  have  un- 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  SOUTH.  197 

necessarily  and  wickedly  added  humiliation  to  the  cup  of 
sorrow  the  Southern  people  have  been  compelled  to  drink, 
and  drink  so  deeply.  A  brave  and  generous  people  by 
the  fortunes  of  war  were  subjected  to  your  rule.  Their 
hands  were  stretched  out  to  you  and  were  rejected ;  their 
honest  pride  ingeniously  and  cruelly  wounded ;  and  you 
have  lost  that  confidence  and  friendship  which,  for  the 
sake  of  your  country,  you  should  have  cultivated  and 
valued. 

"  By  your  course  of  action  the  people  of  the  other  sec 
tions  of  the  Union  have  been  deprived  of  their  natural 
allies  and  auxiliaries  in  bearing  their  vast  burdens  of  na 
tional  debt  and  taxation,  and  the  advancement  of  our 
country's  prosperity  has  been  greatly  retarded.  You 
have  placed  and  kept  the  people  of  the  South  in  loath 
some  subjection  to  the  most  debased  and  worthless  classes 
of  their  inhabitants,  at  the  cost  not  only  of  justice,  de 
cency,  and  good  government,  but  also  at  an  enormous  pecu 
niary  expense  to  the  Northern  and  Western  people.  And, 
in  order  to  accomplish  all  this,  it  was  necessary  that  you 
should  disregard  and  violate  nearly  every  limitation  im 
posed  upon  your  power  by  the  federal  Constitution,  and 
postpone  almost  indefinitely  the  time  when  the  States  of 
the  South  shall  be  a  source  of  strength,  happiness,  and 
pride  to  those  of  the  other  sections  of  the  Union.  "Will 
you  be  sustained  in  all  this  by  your  people  ?  It  is  a  grave 
question,  which  for  the  sake  of  the  Union  of  our  fathers 
I  trust  may  soon  be  answered  in  the  negative." 

For  years  the  radicals  had  unlimited  sway  in  the 
Southern  States.  All  the  apparatus  of  fraud  and  engines 
of  violence  stood  at  their  disposal ;  all  the  machinery  of 
government  was  in  their  hands,  from  Judge  Bond  on  the 
bench,  to  Sambo,  J.  P.,  at  the  cross-roads ;  from  Holden 


198  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

sweeping  into  the  capacious  pockets  of  his  friends  the 
whole  wealth  of  a  State,  to  the  sable  legislators  at  Colum 
bia  fighting  for  ginger-cakes  on  the  floor  of  the  house. 
The  men  to  plan,  the  men  to  justify,  the  men  to  execute, 
were  all  theirs.  Had  they  desired  peace  and  order  they 
could  have  had  it,  but  they  desired  discord  and  confusion. 

One  device  after  another  was  tried  to  blind  the  peo 
ple  of  the  North  to  their  proceedings,  and  to  explain  why 
that  pathetic  suspiration  of  President  Grant,  "  let  us  have 
peace,"  was  so  hard  to  realize.  The  Ku-Klux  phantom 
stood  them  in  good  stead  for  a  while,  and  gave  many 
fine  opportunities  for  laying  hands  upon  hearts  and  ap 
pealing  to  Heaven.  They  had  collected  a  body  of  wit 
nesses  of  unsurpassable  efficiency  ;•  visiting  committees 
saw  whatever  they  went  to  see ;  until  the  tragi-comedy 
culminated  in  broad  farce  as  honorable  members  with  un- 
equaled  power  of  face  stood  with  upturned  eyes  beside 
the  couch  of  Eliza  Pinkston. 

Grotesque  as  all  this  was,  it  was  a  matter  of  terrible . 
moment  that  men  should  hold  their  liberties  and  lives 
and  whole  States  their  franchises  at  the  mercy  of  such 
informers,  and  those  who  professed  to  believe  them. 
Mr.  Bayard  exposed  the  whole  business,  with  all  its  mon 
strous  wrong,  in  his  speech  of  March  20,  1871.  Mr. 
Sherman  had  introduced  into  the  Senate  the  following 
resolution : 

"  Resolved,  That  as  organized  bands  of  desperate  and  lawless  men, 
mainly  composed  of  soldiers  of  the  late  rebel  armies,  armed,  dis 
ciplined,  and  disguised,  and  bound  by  oaths  and  secret  obligations, 
have,  by  force,  terror,  and  violence,  subverted  all  civil  authority  in 
large  parts  of  the  late  insurrectionary  States,  thus  utterly  overthrow 
ing  the  safety  of  person  and  property,  and  all  those  rights  which 
are  the  primary  basis  and  object  of  all  civil  government,  and  which 
are  expressly  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  SOUTH.  199 

to  all  its  citizens  ;  and,  as  the  courts  are  rendered  utterly  powerless, 
by  organized  perjury,  to  punish  crime,  therefore  the  Judiciary  Com 
mittee  is  instructed  to  report  a  bill  or  bills  that  will  enable  the 
President  and  the  courts  of  the  United  States  to  execute  the  laws, 
punish  such  organized  violence,  and  secure  to  all  citizens  the  rights 
so  guaranteed  to  them." 

Mr.  Bayard  first  protested  against  the  iniquity  of 
drawing  a  bill  of  indictment  against  eleven  States  upon 
the  strength  of  evidence  collected  in  one  State  alone.  He 
showed  how  so  called  confessions  were  extorted  by  tor 
ture  and  threats  of  immediate  death ;  how  most  of  the 
"  outrages  "  had  no  political  significance,  but  were  merely 
the  struggles  of  society  for  self-preservation,  in  a  region 
where  ruffianism  was  armed  and  encouraged,  where  mur 
der,  arson,  and  rape  were  things  of  almost  daily  occur 
rence,  under  the  beneficent  sway  of  a  H olden,  who,  as 
was  testified,  pardoned  the  offenders  before  they  were  in 
side  the  penitentiary  gate.  In  such  a  state  of  society  it 
would  have  been  a  marvel  indeed  if  outrages,  aggressive 
or  vindictive,  had  not  occurred ;  and  to  this  pass  had 
Radical  rule  brought  North  Carolina.  And  these  were 
the  things  that  were  offered  as  a  pretext  for  laying 
the  franchises  of  all  the  States  in  the  Union  under 
the  feet  of  a  majority  in  Congress.  The  speech  con 
cludes  : 

"  I  appeal  to  the  Senate  to  rise  above  mere  party  views 
in  this  case,  and  remember  that  we  are  all  Americans, 
living  under  this  government,  and  all,  I  hope,  equally 
attached  to  our  country.  The  Constitution,  which  we 
have  invoked,  was  meant  for  minorities.  The  shifting 
sands  of  political  life  may  put  your  party  at  no  late  day 
in  a  minority,  and  then,  when  you  appeal  to  a  majority 
in  these  halls  for  every  protection  which  that  Constitution 


200  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

entitles  you  to  ask,  I  and  those  with  whom  I  act  in  this 
body  will  freely  aid  you  with  our  votes.  The  Constitu 
tion  of  our  country  to-day  is  imperiled  by  the  demands  of 
party.  It  never  was  more  directly  assailed  than  by  the 
resolution  offered  by  the  Senator  from  Ohio.  He  pro 
poses  to  enter  the  States,  and  deprive  them  of  all  those 
police  powers  unquestionably  necessary  for  their  preserva 
tion,  and  to  grasp  all  into  the  hands  of  the  federal  gov 
ernment.  The  proposed  coercive  measures,  if  made  for 
Carolina,  must  extend  to  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  to  Ohio,  for  we  can  not  have  laws  unequal  in  their 
operation,  and  applying  only  to  portions  of  this  country. 
As  I  hope  and  believe,  political  power  is  about  to  pass 
from  the  party  who  have  held  it  for  the  past  ten  years  in 
this  country.  I  ask,  at  least,  that  you  shall  restore  us  the 
Constitution,  sorely  shattered  as  it  has  been  by  your  ten 
years  of  administration,  without  further  assaults  upon  it. 
There  yet  remains  enough,  by  an  honest  subordination  to 
its  limitations,  to  guide  us  back  to  a  condition  of  limited 
government,  which  the  excesses  and  excitements  of  the 
war  have  in  a  degree  weakened  or  destroyed.  I  trust  that 
this  measure  of  violence  will  not  meet  the  assent  of  the 
Senate,  and  that  those  who  are  now  in  the  majority  will 
see  the  danger  of  violating  the  great  principles  of  govern 
ment  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  temporary  partisan  ad 


vantage. 


When  in  May,  1 872,  a  bill  was  offered,  the  effect  of 
which  was  to  give  the  President  absolute  and  despotic 
power  in  every  State,  authorizing  him  to  suspend  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  at  his  discretion,  Mr.  Bayard's  voice 
rose  clear  and  strong  in  defense  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  rights  and  liberties  of  citizens.  He  sifted  the  whole 
mass  of  alleged  facts  which  had  been  offered  in  defense 


DEFENSE   OF  THE   SOUTH.  201 

of  a  measure  so  perilous  and  revolutionary,  showed  how 
false  and  frivolous  were  the  charges,  and  what  were  the 
characters  of  the  informers  and  accusers.  One  of  the 
advocates  of  the  bill  had  even  taunted  the  Southern  peo 
ple  for  weeping  at  the  graves  of  those  who  fell  in  the 
war.  Mr.  Bayard  replied  to  this  unmanly  scoff : 

"  Yes,  Mr.  President,  and,  should  it  ever  come  to  pass 
that  the  graves  of  the  Southern  dead  should  be  neglected 
by  their  kindred,  kind  Nature  herself  will  take  their 
place,  and  the  Southern  earth  in  which  the  dead  sleep  will 
yield  its  lilies  and  its  daisies  to  wreath  their  places  of 
rest,  and  the  soft  winds  of  the  South  will  gently  wave 
the  grass  above  them,  and  the  dews  of  her  starry  nights 
will  keep  grass  and  flower  fresh  in  memory  of  her  brave 
children  who  died  in  defense  of  the  soil  which  now  con 
tains  them. 

"  Why,  sir,  can  it  be  that  a  mind  can  be  so  darkened 
by  prejudice  and  party  spirit  as  to  forget  the  very  echoes 
of  human  nature  itself  ?  If  these  people  did  not  weep 
over  their  loved  and  their  lost,  they  would  be  something 
more  or  less  than  human ;  much  more  likely  less  than 
more.  Such  a  speech  and  such  sentiments  sound  to  me 
like  the  report  of  some  Russian  commander  writing  from 
'Warsaw  to  the  Czar,  followed  by  an  order  forbidding  the 
women  of  Poland  to  wear  mourning  for  their  dead.  Is 
it  the  feeling  or  the  language  of  an  American  senator 
directed  toward  those  who  are  his  fellow  citizens,  and 
who  it  is  the  hope  of  the  country  will  be  a  source  of  hap 
piness  and  strength  to  our  Union  ?  Certainly  men  can 
not  be  won  back  from  error  by  such  sentiments  as  these, 
and  by  such  condemnation.  They  never  can  be  made 
friends  by  such  processes.  .  .  . 

"  The   law  now  proposed   is   an   act   of   assault ;   it 


202  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

breathes  of  violence.  It  works  upon  no  emotions  but 
those  of  fear.  It  will  cause  hatreds.  It  will  produce  no 
good-will  either  between  citizens  or  toward  the  govern 
ment.  It  is,  as  I  have  tried  to  show,  a  plain  violation  of 
the  limits  of  our  wrritten  charter  of  power,  and,  even  if  it 
were  not  so,  it  is  unwise  and  unjust.  Cease,  then,  I  beg 
of  you,  this  maleficent,  odious  system,  so  foreign  to  the 
genius  of  American  government,  called  '  reconstruction,' 
and  adopt  now  and  from  this  time  forth  the  true,  the 
wise,  the  Christian  policy  of  '  reconciliation '  between 
the  States  of  this  Union." 

In  his  strong,  though  temperate,  arraignment  of  Presi 
dent  Grant's  policy  in  his  address  at  Wilmington  [October 
4r,  1872],  he  makes  a  noble  appeal  to  the  justice,  the  hu 
manity,  and  the  patriotism  of  the  people : 

"  General  Grant,  with  all  his  power,  with  the  great  op 
portunity  before  him  of  pacification,  has  never  said  one 
friendly  word  to  the  Southern  people.  There  is  not,  in  his 
messages  or  in  any  public  paper  of  his,  one  kindly,  friendly 
word  of  encouragement  to  them,  and,  as  I  have  said 
before,  not  one  word  of  rebuke  to  those  who  have  acted 
dishonestly  and  wrongfully  among  them.  If  the  rascals 
have  been  caught,  he  has  pardoned  them.  He  has  never 
rebuked  them.  He  has  never  sought  to  have  them  pun 
ished.  When  the  question  came  up  of  abolishing  the  test 
oath,  which  was  excluding  men  from  oifice  in  the  South, 
although  he  returned  the  bill  to  Congress  with  his  ap 
proval,  he  did  so  with  a  sneer  and  an  innuendo  against  the 
truthfulness  of  the  Southern  people  who  had  been  excluded 
by  the  oath.  Oh,  if  he  had  known  anything  of  civil 
government,  if  he  had  known  anything  of  human  nature, 
he  would  have  known  that  test  oaths  are  useless  as  to  the 
dishonest,  and  only  tend  to  exclude  the  good  and  true. 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  SOUTH.  203 

"  He  came  into  office  with  a  cry  upon  his  lips,  that 
turned  out  to  be  a  mere  catch-word,  which  did  catch  for 
him  thousands,  nay,  tens  of  thousands  of  votes  which  he 
will  never  again  receive  in  this  country.  When  he  said, 
*  Let  us  have  peace,'  the  people  thought  he  meant  it ;  but 
it  seems  that  he  either  used  the  words  without  mean 
ing,  or  he  has  changed  his  mind  most  sadly  since.  Now, 
discontent,  disturbance,  unkindness,  enmity,  are  the 
weapons  he  seems  most  to  rely  upon  for  his  re-election, 
and  he  sends  his  agents  off  through  the  country,  not 
to  say  '  Let  us  have  peace,'  but  to  do  what  his  friend 
Morton,  of  Indiana,  does,  stir  anew  the  old  feeling  of 
the  war. 

"  When  you  look  at  his  work  in  South  Carolina,  when 
you  read  of  the  depopulation  of  those  counties,  when 
you  read  of  the  reign  of  terror  and  the  sadness  which 
brood  over  them,  you  are  reminded  of  the  line  of  Taci 
tus  who,  in  speaking  of  the  conquests  of  the  Barbarians, 
says,  '  They  make  a  solitude,  and  call  it  peace.'  That  is  the 
kind  of  peace  that  General  Grant's  policy  has  produced 
in  the  State  of  South  Carolina  and  wherever  else  it  has 
been  exerted. 

"  There  is  a  large  portion  of  this  audience  and  a  large 
portion  of  this  community  composed  of  the  young  men 
of  the  country.  They  are  at  that  period  of  life  when  the 
generous  and  kindly  emotions  have  most  force.  Men 
who  are  older  are  more  apt  to  be  seared  by  passion,  to  be 
actuated  by  prejudice,  and  to  have  their  better  feelings 
almost  too  much  under  control.  To  the  young  men  of 
this  audience,  to  the  young  men  of  this  country,  I  would 
appeal  to  see  that  kind  feeling  become  their  rule  of  action 
toward  their  fellow  citizens  in  all  portions  of  this  country. 
The  duties  of  h'fe  are  now  upon  them,  and  the  govern- 


204  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ment  of  this  country  must,  in  tlie  course  of  nature,  in  a 
short  time  pass  into  their  hands. 

"  If  but  that  feeling  can  be  aroused  in  their  ingenuous 
breasts,  if  their  feelings  of  generosity  can  but  be  properly 
touched  on  this  subject,  then  all  will  be  well.  They  have 
power  to-day  with  their  votes.  They  will  have  all  power 
and  control  after  a  few  more  years  have  rolled  by.  To 
them  I  address  myself,  to  their  emotions  of  generosity,  of 
kindness,  and  remind  them  of  the  necessity  of  these  quali 
ties  in  human  government. 

"  I  ask  you,  younger  men  of  the  country,  untouched 
by  the  bitter  experiences  of  life,  and  by  its  fiercer  pas 
sions,  to  insist  that  good  feeling  and  union  and  reconcilia 
tion  shall  be  the  law  of  this  land  between  citizens  of  all 
parts.  See  to  it  that  you  vote  for  no  man  who  does  not 
so  act  as  to  produce  them,  but  vote  now  and  at  all  times 
hereafter  in  favor  of  those  men  who  will  endeavor  again 
to  create  a  union  of  feeling  that  shall  indeed  make  our 
Union  strong  and  great  and  perpetual. 

"  Let  your  cry  be  in  regard  to  law,  '  Down  with  the 
system  of  coercion.  We  do  not  trust  lip-service.  Up 
with  the  spirit  of  trust ;  up  with  the  spirit  of  confidence 
in  our  fellow  man ! '  Insist  that  you  will  govern  him 
through  his  better  feelings,  and  not  by  his  fears.  Unless 
this  course  be  adopted  there  will  be  no  safety. 

"  I  tell  you,  my  friends,  the  same  qualities  that  affect 
a  family,  the  same  qualities  that  affect  two  friends,  affect 
a  nation.  Why  is  it  that  when  you  pass  to  the  household 
of  your  friend,  and  sit  in  his  family  circle,  and  look  into 
his  eyes  and  the  eyes  of  his  family,  you  feel  yourself  safe 
and  happy?  It  is  the  feeling  of  human  affection  that 
makes  you  safe  and  happy,  and  just  as  you  sit  down  in 
friendship  either  at  your  own  firesides  or  those  of  your 


DEFENSE   OF  THE  SOUTH.  205 

friends,  so  the  same  spirit  will  gradually  extend  through 
a  nation.  It  begins  in  the  little  rivulet  of  individual 
good  feeling  and  friendship,  and  it  swells  into  the  mighty 
river  of  national  amity. 

"  Last  fall  it  was  my  duty  to  go  into  the  Southern  States 
upon  another  committee  of  investigation,  so  called.  The 
object  of  that  committee  was  a  plain  one.  It  had  been 
created  for  the  purpose  of  getting  evidence  of  discontent 
and.  disorder,  to  be  brandished  before  the  eyes  of  the 
Northern  people,  and  make  them  approve  and  accept  of 
further  measures  of  coercion  against  the  South.  Strange 
to  say,  the  Southern  white  people  who  had  been  treated 
with  so  much  ignominy  and  unkindness,  who  had  been 
so  disregarded  by  the  administration,  did  not  like  them 
well  enough  to  vote  for  them.  It  seemed,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  administration,  to  be  a  remarkable  fact  that  men 
did  not  like  those  who  had  used  them  ill,  and  did  like 
those  who  had  expressed  a  desire  to  serve  them.  General 
Grant  had  it  in  his  power  to  gain  either  the  good- will  or 
the  opposition  of  the  Southern  white  people.  He  chose 
to  gain  their  opposition.  He  chose  it  by  natural  methods. 
The  tree  he  planted  has  borne  its  fruits.  General  Grant 
and  his  party  affected  surprise  at  it,  and  sought  some  pre 
text  for  violence  and  force  against  the  Southern  people, 
in  order  to  compel  them  to  come  into  his  party.  There 
fore,  a  committee  was  sent  down  to  see  what  could  be 
picked  up  of  a  hostile  and  unfavorable  character  to  the 
people  of  the  Southern  States,  and  report  it  to  the  peo 
ple  of  the  North.  What  they  found  did  not  very  well 
suit  their  purposes,  for,  although  it  is  published,  it  is  in 
such  bulk  that  no  man  in  ordinary  times  could  read  it, 
and  the  number  of  copies  is  so  restricted  as  not  to  admit 
of  general  circulation. 


206  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

"  But  as  I  say,  on  this  committee  I  was  placed  and 
served.  We  went  through  the  Southern  States,  and  heard 
all  that  malicious  ingenuity  could  invent  against  the 
white  people  of  that  section. 

"  As  we  came  up  the  Potomac  River,  having  passed 
through  Florida,  Georgia,  and  the  Carolinas,  to  Virginia, 
and  were  nearing  the  city  of  "Washington,  I  was  sitting 
upon  the  deck  of  the  steamer,  thinking  over  the  intent 
of  this  investigation,  and  the  result  which  was  to  be 
reached  by  it,  when  I  was  aroused  from  my  meditation 
by  the  tolling  of  the  steamer's  bell.  I  found  that  we 
were  just  opposite  Mount  Yernon,  and  that  it  was  the 
custom  of  every  boat  upon  that  river,  by  day  or  by  night, 
to  pay  the  passing  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
him  who  was  '  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,'  and  still  re 
mains,  if  the  truth  be  told,  '  first  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen.' 

"  And  how  earnestly  do  I  wish  the  bells  tolled  in 
memory  of  the  illustrious  dead,  who  sleeps  so  calmly  by 
the  side  of  the  broad  Potomac,  could  wake  an  echo  now 
in  the  breast  of  ev^ery  American  citizen  ! 

"  "Will  you  not  recall  the  impressive  words  of  his  fare 
well  address,  and  let  his  voice,  now  from  the  grave,  *  warn 
you  in  the  most  solemn  manner  against  the  baneful  effects 
of  the  spirit  of  party  generally '  ? 

"  The  paramount  and  plain  issue  of  the  hour  is  be 
tween  entrenched  and  self-aggrandizing  power  striding 
over  the  land,  and  obliterating  in  its  progress  all  the  wise 
limitations  that  our  patriot  sires  sought  to  place  upon  our 
rulers  on  the  one  side ;  on  the  other,  the  spirit  of  civil 
liberty  and  the  love  of  that  sober-suited  freedom  which 
once  characterized  the  American  people. 

"  The  present  administration  and  its   candidate  call 


DEFENSE   OF  THE   SOUTH.  207 

upon  their  party  in  the  name  of  party,  and  for  the  sake 
of  party  power,  to  endorse  and  sustain  them.  We  Demo 
crats,  truly  Democratic,  and  Republicans  truly  liberal, 
call  upon  all  men,  not  in  the  name  of  a  party,  not  for  the 
name  of  a  party,  not  for  the  success  of  a  party,  but  for 
the  sake  of  our  whole  country,  to  join  us  in  arresting  the 
onward  and  annihilating  course  of  centralizing  despotism. 
Shall  personal  prejudices  or  party  spirit  prevent  our  suc 
cess?  Shall  the  counsels  of  George  Washington  be  in 
vain?" 

We  do  not  propose  to  recite  here  the  miserable  story 
of  Louisiana,  how  every  wrong  that  could  be  devised  was 
perpetrated  on  the  unhappy  people  of  that  State,  by  fraud, 
by  open  violence,  and  by  both  combined,  under  the  rule 
of  those  "  captains-general  of  iniquity,"  Durell,  Packard, 
Kellogg,  and  the  rest,  approved  and  sustained  by  the  ad 
ministration  at  Washington.  The  history  of  that  series 
of  crimes  may  be  read,  if  nowhere  else,  in  the  appeal 
after  appeal  made  by  Senator  Bayard  to  the  justice,  the 
humanity,  the  honor,  even  the  interest,  of  the  majority 
in  1873,  1874,  and  1875. 

NOT  will  we  go  into  the  details  of  the  attempt  to  in 
troduce  the  Louisiana  system  of  management  into  Missis 
sippi.  It  was  when  he  was  resisting  the  latter  that  he 
received  the  only  insult  ever  offered  him  in  the  Senate. 
A  senator  ventured  to  insinuate  that  Mr.  Bayard  was  the 
secret  enemy  of  the  Union.  The  imputation  was  repelled 
with  the  scorn  that  it  deserved. 

"  I  will  simply  say,  that  every  drop  of  blood  in  my 
body  comes  from  men  and  from  women  who,  since  this 
government  was  established,  never  harbored  a  thought  or 
did  an  act  unfaithful  or  unpatriotic.  No  man  can  assert 
the  contrary.  The  Senator  dare  not  do  so.  He  might 


208  L!FE   OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

attempt  it  by  an  innuendo,  by  classifying  me  with  thos3 
whom  he  terms  the  enemies  of  the  country ;  but  he  knows 
as  well  as  I  that  the  man  who  says  I  ever  did  an  act  or 
uttered  a  word  unfaithful  to  the  integrity  of  my  coun 
try's  government  has  lied  in  his  throat.  He  bids  ni3 
beware  of  November.  In  November  the  people  of  this 
country  will  submit  their  candidates  for  the  popular  vei  - 
diet,  and  then  the  Senator  may  repeat  his  speech  whero 
he  pleases.  Then  he  may  assault  men  as  he  pleases.  I  f 
it  shall  please  a  merciful  Heaven  to  give  to  this  country 
a  feeling  of  fraternity  and  union,  then  he  and  those  who 
think  and  act  with  him  will  be  consigned  to  private  lif<; 
and  to  an  absence  from  political  power.  We  will  go  be 
fore  the  people  of  this  country.  I  expect  to  go  with  all 
the  rest  as  a  private  citizen,  and  submit  the  doctrines  o:' 
the  party  with  which  I  act ;  to  submit  the  measures  tha:; 
we  propose  for  the  government  of  this  country  to  the 
intelligence,  to  the  candor,  to  the  patriotic  sense,  of  the 
people  of  this  country.  If  the  verdict  shall  be  againsi, 
us,  it  will  still  be  our  country,  and  we  shall  obey  the  mei 
whom  you  have  elected  just  as  fully  as  if  we  had  electee 
our  own  candidates.  Minorities  have  no  terror  for  me — 
none  at  all.  I  have  not  flinched  from  declaring  on  anj 
occasion  an  opinion  that  might  have  seemed  unpopulai 
at  the  time. 

"  Is  it  to  be  held  up  to  me  that  I  have  tried  to  make 
the  people  of  the  South  feel  that  this  was  their  country, 
that  this  was  their  government,  and  that  they  were  bound 
to  come  and  support  it,  and  find  protection  as  they  gave 
it  allegiance  ?  If  it  be  a  crime,  then  am  I  the  greatest 
sinner  on  earth.  If  such  feelings,  such  professions,  and 
such  principles  shall  consign  me  for  ever  to  a  minority, 
then  welcome  the  shades  of  private  life  with  the  unstained 


DEFENSE   OF  THE  SOUTH.  209 

conscience  that  I  shall  carry  there  with  it.  I  would  rather 
have  it  than  all  the  power  that  the  people  of  this  country 
can  give,  for  I  have  something  that  they  did  not  give,  and 
which  they  can  not  deprive  me  of,  and  that  is  my  own 
self-respect." 

As  he  uttered  these  words,  such  vehement  applause 
burst  from  the  galleries  that  the  President  of  the  Senate 
ordered  the  sergeant-at-arms  to  place  a  force  there  to  pre 
serve  order.  The  Senator  who  had  made  the  assault  took 
the  opportunity  to  slip  out  of  the  chamber,  and  hid  him 
self  for  awhile  from  public  gaze  in  the  cloak-room. 

It  was  this  constant,  manly,  and  fearless  struggle  for 
the  right  that  inspired  a  poet  and  patriot  of  Massachusetts 
to  send  him  a  greeting,  couched  in  verse  so  noble,  so 
trumpet-like  in  its  ring,  that  our  only  regret  is  that  we 
can  not  reproduce  it  here.  An  extract  or  two,  however, 
may  form  a  fitting  close  to  this  chapter. 

u  But  oh,  when  Peace  resumes  its  holiest  reign 
And  hostile  brethren  might  be  friends  again, 
Say,  should  the  great  republic,  firmer  grown 
By  the  sharp  strife  within  her — with  her  own, 
Her  own  rash  children,  in  the  world's  applause 
Rebels  owned  heroes  for  their  ruined  cause : 
Lee,  dead,  heart-broken  for  the  field  they  lost, 
And  stalwart  Jackson  harnessed  at  his  post; 
Say,  should  she  deal  the  fallen  a  needless  blow, 
Proclaim  V^:  VICTIS — TO  THE  CONQUERED  WOE  ? — 
Or  seize  the  precious  moment  to  efface 
Of  war's  foul  canker  every  festering  trace  ? 
Bid  prostrate  towns  revive  from  ruin's  verge, 
See  prostrate  men  to  manlier  life  emerge, 
And  freshening  fields  like  gardens  deck  the  wild 
Forlorn  where  once  the  burdening  harvest  smiled. 
Her  aliened  sons,  returning  to  her  side, 
To  clasp  with  more  than  old  maternal  pride, 


210  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

And  leagued  with  brothers  on  a  hostile  field 
Against  a  world  in  arras  her  spear  and  shield. 

"Such  thoughts  were  thine  and  theirs,  whose  generous  hope, 
Bounded  within  no  party's  narrow  scope, 
Hailed  the  proud  Union  to  itself  restored, 
And  claimed  the  grace  its  greatness  dared  afford. 

But,  ohi  the  change  when  that  foul  scheming  crew, 

The  pest  of  nations,  to  themselves  untrue, 

The  greedy  placemen  foully  set  on  high, 

Through  lowest  arts  that  lure  the  vulgar  eye, 

In  power  imperious,  and  to  self  so  prone 

They  count  the  public  pocket  for  their  own ; 

Who  heard  the  whisper  of  a  South  restored 

Like  the  low  summons  to  a  funeral  board ; 

Sent  forth  the  carpet-bagman's  horse-leech  brood, 

To  scatter  firebrands — for  their  country's  good ; 

Made  him  their  tool  the  soldier  who  could  call 

Late  foes  new  friends  by  Richmond's  leaguered  wall. 

Such  the  long  trial,  dark  with  troubled  scenes 

Of  public  burdens  grinding  private  means ; 

Of  wild  finance,  and  impotent  delay, 

Just  debts  -incurred  with  honest  coin  to  pay  ; 

States  crushed  beneath  the  heel  of  lawless  might, 

A  mongrel  rule  enforced  of  black  and  white ; 

Veiling  base  purposes  with  false  pretense, 

Alien  to  nature,  truth,  and  common  sense; 

Fraudful  to  use  their  country's  hapless  hour 

To  make  perpetual  their  ill-gotten  power;    • 

To  keep  the  great  republic's  glorious  name, 

But  change  its  substance  for  a  hollow  frame; 

To  make  their  factious  will  the  law  supreme, 

All  the  old  freedom  gone — a  vanished  dream; 

A  broken  Constitution  out  of  date, 

One  man  at  length  to  rule  and  be  the  State : 

Enough  to  stir  old  patriots  in  their  graves, 

That  their  own  children's  children  could  be  slaves! 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  SOUTH.  211 


Mid  storms  of  faction,  thine  the  nobler  strife 
To  wake  the  bleeding  land  to  fresher  life  ; 
To  heal  the  wounds  by  war's  dread  struggles  made, 
To  grasp  the  hand  that  held  a  hostile  blade ; 
To  make  the  lowliest  as  the  loftiest  feel 
Their  hope  concentred  in  the  common  weal, 
Once  held  the  just  republic's  equal  scheme, 
A  glorious  vision,  if  it  were  a  dream ! 
Leaving  to  meaner  minds  their  low  affairs, 
Their  false  ambitions  and  degrading  cares, 
Assured  that  parts  diseased  infect  the  whole, 
Thy  country's  ALL  engaged  thy  statesman's  soul. 

Through  this  wild  turmoil,  when  vindictive  rage 

Wrote  damning  records  on  our  history's  page, 

Law  to  uphold,  to  reassure  the  right, 

And  foil  each  mean  device  of  party  spite, 

To  make  the  cheat,  the  force,  the  mockery  plain, 

And  find,  alas !  the  labor  all  in  vain ; 

Thy  stern  rebuke  in  calm  and  storm  was  heard, 

And  pierced  the  future  like  a  prophet-word." 


10 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   BATTLE    AGAINST    CENTRALIZATION. 

"  PARTY  "  is,  after  all,  a  confusing  term  to  tlie  philoso 
pher,  to  every  one  in  search  of  the  underlying  impulses 
of  thought  and  action.  Federal  and  Republican,  Whig- 
and  Democrat,  Democrat  and  Republican,  when  we  come 
to  consider  these  party  names  in  their  final  analysis,  will 
be  found  to  imply  very  different  things  to  persons  of  dif 
ferent  temperament  and  associations.  Names  very  often 
fail  to  represent  principles,  and  parties  very  often  are  di 
vided  against  themselves  in  consequence  of  the  diverse 
mental  constitution  and  opinions  of  their  leaders.  The 
larger  part  of  mankind  take  their  political  principles  by 
inheritance  and  upon  hearsay.  Party  is  with  them,  in  a 
great  degree,  a  matter  of  education,  of  prejudice,  so  tc 
speak.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  it  usually  happens,  when 
a  party  leader  goes  over  to  the  other  side,  he  fails  to  take 
his  party  with  him.  In  1856  the  Conservative-Whig 
chiefs  had  nearly  all  become  Democrats,  but  the  mass  oi 
the  party  was  Know-Nothing  or  Republican. 

In  every  state  where  the  people  govern  themselves, 
and  must  think  because  they  are  depended  upon  to  regu 
late  their  own  affairs,  there  is  a  natural  and  inevitable 
division  of  parties  upon  the  point  of  the  distribution  of 
power.  At  bottom,  the  differences  of  opinion  among 
men  in  this  respect  are  due  to  the  temperament  and  con- 


THE   BATTLE   AGAINST   CENTRALIZATION.  213 

stitution  of  individuals,  but  this  it  is  in  which  parties 
originate  and  by  which  they  are  kept  alive.  The  con 
struction  put  upon  constitutions,  the  interpretation  of  the 
powers  and  province  of  government,  vary  according  to 
idiosyncrasy,  and  are,  in  the  last  analysis,  types  of  indi 
viduality.  Of  course  there  are  party  landmarks,  in  regard 
to  which  character  and  temperament  effect  nothing,  but 
it  is  not  wise  in  considering  even  the  expediencies  and 
temporary  contrivances  of  parties  to  ignore  the  influences 
of  idiosyncrasy. 

Note,  for  instance,  the  differences  between  Oliver  P. 
Morton  and  Thomas  F.  Bayard  in  this  particular.  It  is 
not  necessary,  in  a  parallel  of  this  sort,  to  impugn  mo 
tives  or  to  question  the  absolute  sincerity  of  any  leading 
statesmen.  Both  of  these  two — let  us  speak  in  the  pres 
ent  tense,  for,  though  Morton  is  dead,  his  influence  still 
lives  in  the  Senate — are  men  of  towering  intellect,  culti 
vated  experience,  and  distinguished  practical  ability ; 
both  are  men  of  intense  and  earnest  convictions,  and  men 
likewise  who  have  weighed  and  sifted  opinions  and 
judgments  carefully  in  order  to  satisfy  themselves  that 
they  are  rightly  held.  Both  are  young,  both  ardent,  both 
ambitious,  both  are  filled  with  the  consciousness  of  that 
sort  of  force  in  them  which  naturally  assumes  to  direct 
in  the  national  counsels.  Yet  their  courses  in  the  Senate 
are  wide  apart  as  the  poles,  as  different  as  Sirocco  is  from 
Zephyr.  Morton's  intense  individuality  asserts  itself  in 
the  belief  that  man  is  the  ever-active  law  for  himself ; 
that  "  definitions  advance  "  ;  that  constitutions  and  insti 
tutions,  the  work  of  man's  hands,  are  ipso  facto  not  in 
violable,  but,  on  the  contrary,  uncompleted  works,  ever 
under  the  chisel,  ever  amendable  and  to  be  amended. 
His  egoism,  his  self -sufficiency,  his  sustained  conscious- 


214:  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 

ness  of  and  reliance  upon  his  own  powers,  have  give  i 
him  a  disdain  for  tradition  and  for  established  things  s ) 
great  that  he  can  scarcely  restrain  it  writhin  the  bounds  of 
politeness  and  decency.  He  is  ever  tempted  to  blurt  out 
his  contempt  of  the  mob,  to  cry  with  Horace,  Odi  prc- 
fanum  vulgus  et  arceo.  He  insists  upon  a  "strong'' 
government,  upon  the  absolute  concentration  and  accu 
mulation  of  power  in  the  federal  state,  in  other  words, 
because  he  despises  and  has  no  faith  in  the  capacity  of 
the  multitude  which  he  wishes  to  lead.  The  "federal 
state,"  in  his  conceit  of  it,  being  always  a  very  small 
"junto,"  of  which  he  is  the  active  spirit — the  steam 
power  of  the  machine. 

Mr.  Bayard,  on  the  other  hand,  over  and  above  hi;* 
early  teachings  and  traditions,  is  a  Democrat  upon  in 
stinct.  He  looks  upon  "  government,"  not  as  a  force,  bu ; 
as  an  aggregation  of  forces.  It  is  not  a  thing  in  itself, 
but  a  bundle  of  things.  Society  is  an  association  of  indi 
viduals  ;  and  the  maintenance  of  the  equality  and  the  char 
acter  of  each  contributes  to  the  elevation  of  the  whole. 
The  stream  can  not  rise  higher  than  its  source  ;  and  Mor 
ton,  who  assumes  to  be  the  mob's  leader,  can  not  dictate 
thoughts  to  the  mob,  but  must  derive  his  thoughts  from 
them.  Mr.  Bayard  believes  that  the  people  are  the  foun 
tains  of  law  and  government,  and  that  the  better  their 
individuality  and  character  are  preserved,  developed,  and 
stimulated  in  right  directions,  the  more  enlightened  will 
be  the  law  and  government  which  proceed  out  of  them 
and  represent  the  product  and  affluence  of  their  thought 
and  their  morality.  Law  is  the  established  rule  of  gov 
ernment.  It  does  not  represent  and  interpret  and  stand 
for  merely  the  "  advanced  "  ideas  and  opinions  of  men 
afloat  on  the  current,  but  the  cooled-off  experience  of 


THE   BATTLE   AGAINST   CENTRALIZATION.  215 

ages.  Law  is  the  alternative  of  force.  It  enables  Mr. 
Bayard,  his  neighbors  and  friends,  the  whole  community, 
in  fact,  to  live  peaceably  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  own 
thoughts  and  their  own  individuality,  and  without  being 
constrained,  under  penalty  of  proscription,  to  adopt  Mr. 
Morton's  ideas,  or  anybody  else's  ideas,  or  to  accept  their 
stringent  views  of  government,  or  some  other  doctrinaire's 
looser  ones,  as  the  only  proper  opinions  to  be  held. 

Centralization,  which  was  Mr.  Morton's  hobby,  has 
been  Mr.  Bayard's  aversion  from  the  very  beginning  of 
his  senatorial  career.  The  feeling  was  probably  intensi 
fied  at  the  outset  by  his  experiences  of  the  needs  of  the 
minority  for  better  protection  than  they  were  able  to 
secure  under  the  application  and  administration  of  the 
rules  of  the  Senate ;  but  Mr.  Bayard  understands,  perhaps, 
as  well  as  any  other  senator,  the  full  force  of  what  is 
meant  and  implied  in  the  phrase,  "  the  safeguards  of  the 
Constitution."  From  the  first  he  has  had  a  peculiar  ab 
horrence  and  dread  of  the  "  legislative  anomalies  created 
by  the  revolution  which  has  accompanied  the  civil  war." 
The  "  opportunities  "  for  innovation  which  this  state  of 
things  seemed  to  afford  to  Senator  Morton  were  espe 
cially  dreaded  by  Mr.  Bayard,  whose  principle  it  is  that 
nothing  which  is  slipped  through,  because  an  opportunity 
affords,  can  be  properly  denominated  legislation,  much 
less  a  "  reform."  Reforms  are  measures  enacted  coram 
populo,  not  simply  with  the  public  consent,  but  upon  the 
public  demand,  and  after  mature  deliberation.  The  fact 
that  we  had  "  fallen  upon  strange  times  "  should  make  us 
not  more  intrepid  and  hasty,  but  more  reticent  and  care 
ful  in  the  enactment  of  laws  which  were  not  only  to  bind 
us,  but  future  generations  also.  The  Republicans,  and 
Morton  particularly,  asserted  that,  because,  by  processes 


216  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ultra  vires  of  the  Constitution,  slavery  had  been  abolished 
and  the  Union  preserved,  therefore  it  was  admissible  to 
secure  other  modifications  and  "  improvements "  in  the 
organic  law  in  the  same  wray.  But  Mr.  Bayard  held, 
with  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  the  fact  of  one  infraction  of  the 
Constitution  does  not  excuse  another.  He  held,  further 
than  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  the  fact  that  the  Constitution  had 
been  infringed  upon  in  one  instance  should  make  us  only 
the  more  scrupulous  about  other  encroachments  of  the 
same  sort.  When  Mr.  Bayard  first  entered  the  Senate, 
he  took  ground  in  regard  to  the  co-ordinate  powers  of 
government,  and  looked  to  the  Supreme  Cgurt  for  tho 
redress  of  grievances  created  by  the  usurpations  of  the 
executive,  and  the  oppressions  contemplated  by  the  legis 
lative  license  of  the  day.  In  his  first  long  speech  in  the 
Senate,*  Mr.  Bayard  said,  in  regard  to  Mr.  Morton's  views  : 
"  The  honorable  senator  declares,  in  reply  to  my  friend 
from  Ohio,  that  that  which  was  a  republican  form  of  gov 
ernment  in  1787  is  not  such  in  1870 ;  that  the  lapse  of 
time,  the  changes  in  the  condition  of  the  country,  have 
destroyed  the  definition  and  signification  of  this  word 
1  republic,'  which  is  older  than  the  language  which  we 
speak.  .  .  .  Then,  sir,  if  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
or  the  majority  of  that  Congress,  chose  to  invade  the  ex 
isting  government  of  a  State  under  the  pretense  that  it 
was  not  republican  according  to  their  new-fangled  ideas 
of  republicanism,  that  State  would  have  a  right  to  come 
here  or  to  go  into  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  government, 
the  judicial  authority,  and  demand  that  they  should  be 
guaranteed  in  the  inviolate  possession  of  the  rights  they 
had  when  they  entered  the  federal  Union."  "  If  you 
once  admit,"  said  Mr.  Bayard, "  that  <  definitions  advance,' 

*  February  15,  1870.     On  the  representation  of  Mississippi. 


THE   BATTLE   AGAINST   CENTRALIZATION.  217 

to  the  four  winds  of  heaven  go  all  your  limitations 
upon  legislative  power."  ".  The  meaning  of  the  words 
in  a  written  charter  of  government,"  he  added,  "  is  all- 
important.  It  includes  everything."  In  corroboration 
of  his  views  of  this  subject,  Mr.  Bayard  quotes  the  "  Fed 
eralist,"  Madison,  Jefferson,  and  Hamilton,  and  claims 
with  Madison  that  a  State  constituted  on  Morton's  plan 
would  realize  "  the  very  definition  of  tyranny." 

What  is  "the  underlying  principle  of  a  republican 
form  of  government  ? "  As  Mr.  Bayard  defines  it,  "  it  is 
that  the  ultimate  sovereignty  rests  in  the  mass  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  when  you  would  ascertain  what  is  the  will  of  the 
people  you  necessarily  mean  the  will  of  the  majority." 
To  restore  this  Mr.  Bayard  is  willing  to  make  consider 
able  sacrifices.  "  The  power  and  spoils  of  party  which 
may  attend  their  political  success  I  shall  not  envy,  nor 
disturb  their  enjoyment  of.  To  me,  the  happiness  of 
seeing  my  native  land  once  more  enjoying  that  civil  and 
religious  freedom  which  can  only  exist  under  a  govern 
ment  of  laws,  under  a  government  of  well-defined  and 
limited  powers,  will  more  than  compensate  for  the  ab 
sence  of  the  supposed  exultation  consequent  upon  a  mere 
partisan  triumph."  Mr.  Bayard  fully  believes  in  the  con 
stitutional  method  of  relieving  unconstitutional  griev 
ances.  When  the  military  attempted  to  exercise  civil 
control,  he  said :  "  The  framers  of  the  Constitution  in 
tended  that  there  should  be  an  armed  power  which,  in 
cases  of  necessity,  could  be  called  into  service  by  the  gen 
eral  government,  and  used  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing 
the  laws ;  but  they  were  very  careful  to  say  that  Congress 
should  not  ofiicer  that  militia,  but  that  it  should  be  done 
by  the  States  themselves ;  and  that  when  you  called  this 
force,  so  organized,  into  service,  then,  and  not  until  then, 


218  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

the  laws  of  the  Union  could  be  executed  by  their  aid,  i:: 
it  were  necessary." 

In  the  very  view  and  expectation  of  victory  at  the, 
polls  for  the  party  of  his  love,  Mr.  Bayard  was  able  aiu 
willing  to  say  :  * 

"  I  appeal  to  the  Senate  to  rise  above  mere  party  viewt- 
in  this  case,  and  remember  that  we  are  all  Americans,  liv 
ing  under  this  government,  and  all,  I  hope,  equally  at 
tached  to  our  country.  The  Constitution,  which  we  have 
invoked,  was  meant  for  minorities.  The  shifting  sands 
of  political  life  may  put  your  party  at  no  late  day  in  a 
minority,  and  then,  when  you  appeal  to  a  majority  in  these 
halls  for  every  protection  which  that  Constitution  enti 
tles  you  to  ask,  I  and  those  with  whom  I  act  in  this  body 
will  freely  aid  you  with  our  votes." 

This  prudent  and  sagacious  senator  has  a  very  great 
mistrust  of  great  powers,  because,  imder  his  own  eyes,  he 
has  seen  them  so  often  and  so  greatly  abused,  and  always 
by  the  influence  of  the  "great  men  "  who  hold  themselves 
so  much  above  mere  party  principle.  "  All  history,"  said 
he,  in  one  of  his  speeches,  "  shows  that  the  danger  to  free 
government  is  this :  that,  where  you  intrust  men  with 
powers  for  the  purposes  of  government,  they  use  those 
very  powers  to  consolidate  power  still  further  in  their 
own  hands,  and  to  use  what  they  have  obtained  for  pur 
poses  for  which  it  never  was  designed.' 

It  is  in  this  speech  f  that  Mr.  Bayard  dwells  most 
emphatically  upon  his  dread  of  centralization,  and  gives 
his  reasons  most  clearly  for  his  fears.  It  will  be  remem 
bered  that  this  speech  was  made  in  the  campaign  against 
ex-President  Grant's  re-election,  not  for  a  third,  but  for  a 

*  Senate,  March  20,  1871.     Ku-Klux  bill. 

f  Wilmington,  October  4,  1872.     (Institute  Hall.) 


THE   BATTLE    AGAINST   CENTRALIZATION.  219 

second  term.  Mr.  Bayard  called  attention  to  the  example 
of  Washington,  "  when  he  stood  at  the  zenith  of  his  fame 
and  power,  .  .  .  that  remarkable  man,"  said  Mr.  Bayard, 
"  when  he  had  achieved  victory,  when  he  was  crowned 
with  success,  \vhen  laurels  were  thickest  and  his  hands 
most  loaded  with  power,  laid  all  upon  the  altar  of  his 
country,  and  retired  as  a  private  citizen.  .  .  .  Why  was 
this  act  so  remarkable?"  says  Mr.  Bayard.  "It  was 
because  the  quality  was  so  rare,  that  made  his  act  so 
wonderful.  .  .  .  The  issue  which  I  tell  you  has  been 
formed  in  this  country,  in  one  shape  or  another  always 
asserting  itself  since  the  formation  of  the  government, 
is  the  issue  between  the  tendencies  of  power,  wherever  it 
is  placed,  to  increase  and  centralize  itself  and  the  corre 
sponding  effort  under  our  Constitution  to  prevent  that 
centralization  and  insist  upon  a  distribution  of  power.'' 
The  men  who  drew  up  the  Constitution  had  been  the 
victims  of  arbitrary  power,  and  sought  to  screen  their 
descendants  from  its  evil  effects.  They  had  been  forced 
to  take  up  arms  to  relieve  themselves,  and  they  wrished  to 
defend  their  successors  from  any  such  unhappy  expedient 
or  necessity.  When,  in  the  hour  of  victory  over  these 
external  obstructions,  they  were  summoned  to  draw  up  a 
constitution  for  the  government  of  the  whole  country,  it 
was  their  leading  object  to  limit  power,  and,  to  effect  this, 
they  were  careful  in  regard  to  its  distribution.  "  The 
very  distribution  of  power,"  in  Mr.  Bayard's  words,  "  was 
to  work  its  limitation."  The  tendency,  ever  active,  ever 
constant,  of  power,  is  to  steal  from  the  many  to  the  few, 
and  this,  if  there  were  no  other  reason,  would  account  for 
and  excuse  the  existence  of  the  Democratic  party. 

"  The  men  who   formed  this  government,"   in  Mr. 
Bayard's  words,  "had,  as  you  know,  suffered  from  arbi- 


220  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

trary  power.  They  had  been  coerced  by  an  arbitrary 
government.  They  took  up  arms  to  relieve  themselves, 
and,  under  God's  providence,  were  successful.  Their 
sufferings  you  know  ;  they  are  part  of  the  history  of  your 
country,  and  I  am  sure  it  ought  to  be  a  most  important 
lesson  for  us  in  all  time.  Having  suffered  from  arbitrary 
power,  the  men  who  laid  the  foundations  of  this  govern 
ment  determined  that  they  would  put  limitations  upon 
power,  no  matter  where  that  power  was  deposited.  They 
knew  the  weakness  of  the  human  heart ;  they  knew  that 
if  you  give  a  man  power  he  will  exercise  it  for  the  most 
advantage  to  himself  and  in  ways  not  intended  ;  and  they 
therefore  determined  that  in  the  Constitution  of  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  there  should  be  no  grant  of 
power  that  was  not  limited,  no  such  thing  as  an  absolute 
power,  no  power  that  was  to  be  without  limitation  both 
as  to  its  extent  and  duration.  How  did  they  accomplish 
that  ?  By  distributing  powers,  by  dividing  our  govern 
ment  into  different  departments,  all  of  which  should  be 
co-ordinate  and  equal,  none  of  which  should  be  absolute 
or  superior.  The  national  legislature  was  created  with 
ample  power  to  make  laws,  but  not  absolutely,  for  the 
President  had  his  right  to  veto.  There  was  also  the 
check  of  a  written  Constitution  that  those  laws  should 
not  pass  the  subjects  or  the  extent  of  power  conferred 
by  its  provisions;  but,  in  case  they  did,  there  was  the 
other  great  check  upon  them,  the  judicial  department. 
Even  if  the  Congress  and  the  President  assented  to  the 
law,  it  was  to  be  subjected  to  the  test  whether,  in  the 
minds  of  the  judiciary  of  the  country,  it  was  or  was 
not  an  infringement  of  the  limitations  imposed  by  the 
written  charter." 

If  we  prevent  the  distribution  of  power,  we  prevent 


THE   BATTLE   AGAINST   CENTRALIZATION.  221 

its  being  limited  also.  We  aid  it  in  becoming  consoli 
dated  and  centralized.  The  Democratic  party,  in  Mr. 
Bayard's  view,  owes  its  existence  and  its  perpetuity  not 
to  the  fact  that  "  it  contains  better  men  than  other  parties, 
not  that  they  are  less  fallible  than  their  fellow  citizens, 
or  more  learned,  or  more  wise,"  but  because  its  member 
ship  is  "  based  on  the  principle  of  freedom,  of  opposition 
to  centralized  power,  and  an  insistence  on  the  distribution 
and  limitation  of  powers  for  the  public  safety." 

The  respect  which  the  Democratic  party  has  invariably 
had  for  this  principle  has  measurably  preserved  the  rights 
of  the  States,  and  has  stood  in  the  way  of  all  sorts  of  class 
legislation.  This  organization,  weak  in  many  other  re 
spects,  has  been  opposed  to  imperial  grants  of  land,  pro 
miscuous  chartering  of  banks  and  every  other  offense 
against  the  proper  distribution  of  power.  It  lias  upheld 
the  principle  of  local  self-government  as  distinguished 
from  imperialism,  and  upon  the  basis  of  these  issues  it  has 
preserved  and  will  continue  to  maintain  its  life,  in  spite 
of  some  things,  partly  constitutional,  partly  historical, 
which  embarrass  its  action,  and,  in  a  less  durable  and 
vigorous  organization,  would  tend  to  promote  dissolution 
and  death.  As  Mr.  Bayard  has  said  :  "  A  party  with  such 
a  principle  underlying  it  will  exist  so  long  as  the  very 
forms  of  freedom  are  left  in  this  country  ; "  no  matter 
under  what  name,  the  party  will  continue  to  exist.  This 
non-interference  of  government  with  things  aside  from  its 
proper  concern,  Mr.  Bayard  takes  to  be  one  main  source 
of  our  national  prosperity.  "  I  believe."  said  he,  "  it  was 
for  this  reason,  thus  broadly  stated,  that  prosperity,  good 
feeling,  and  good  order  existed  throughout  our  land, 
simply  because  no  power  of  the  government  was  urged 
out  of  its  proper  spha\,  and  the  harmony  between 


222  LIFE    OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

federal  and  State  governments  was  suffered  to  remain 
undisturbed,  in  accordance  with  the  wise  system  arranged 
by  our  forefathers.  Nothing  but  the  truth,  the  actual 
vitality  of  this  principle  that  governmental  powers,  always 
seeking  to  aggrandize  themselves  in  one  form  or  another, 
are  steadily  to  be  kept  in  check  by  the  will  of  the  people 
over  whom  they  are  sought  to  be  exercised,  has  ever 
enabled  the  Democratic  party  to  maintain  its  existence 
during  all  political  fluctuations,  changes  of  events  and 
conditions  in  this  country  during  the  whole  of  the 
present  century." 

The  men  who  formed  this  government  wanted  the 
people  to  exercise  it.  In  Mr.  Bayard's  own  words : 
"  Not  only  did  they  mean  the  people  of  their  generation 
to  be  free,  but  they  meant  their  posterity  to  be  free ;  that 
the  government  was  to  be  preserved  by  the  constant  ex 
ercise  of  the  principles  upon  which  it  was  founded ;  and, 
therefore,  when  they  distributed  power  so  that  centraliza 
tion  should  be  checked  and  absolute  power  made — as  far 
as,  humanly,  it  could  be  made — impossible,  they  by  that 
very  act  gave  the  people  throughout  the  country  the 
right  and  opportunity  of  local  self-government.  What 
does  that  mean  ?  It  means  the  school  of  government ;  it 
means  the  opportunity  to  learn  how  to  be  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  by  learning  what  the  functions  and  duties 
of  a  citizen  are ;  and  how  can  you  learn  unless  you  prac 
tice  and  try  ? 

"  Therefore,  I  beg  you  to  understand  the  wisdom  of 
the  men  who  founded  this  government.  They  accom 
plished  a  double  object  by  distributing  powers,  insisting 
upon  the  State  systems  and  the  great  rule  and  principles 
of  local  self-government  in  opposition  to  centralization. 
They  did  that  for  the  purpose  of  educating  the  people  to 


THE   BATTLE   AGAINST  CENTRALIZATION.  223 

become  a  self-governing  nation.  The  wisdom  of  all  this 
plan  is  this :  unless  the  people  are  practiced  in  self-gov 
ernment,  they  will  not  be  fit  to  govern  themselves,  and, 
unless  they  do  govern  themselves  locally  according  to 
their  local  interests,  central  power  will  seize  upon  them 
and  their  liberties,  and  control  them.  So  that,  in  order 
to  be  free,  in  this  broad  land,  two  things  are  required : 
that  power  shall  be  diffused  throughout  the  country  and 
not  centralized  at  Washington,  and  that  the  people  shall 
exercise  their  powers  in  order  to  fit  them  to  carry  on  the 
government." 

The  opposition  of  the  Democratic  party  to  the  four 
teenth  and  fifteenth  amendments  was  chiefly  based  upon 
the  fact  of  their  tendency  to  centralize  power.  It  was 
upon  this  issue  that  the  Ku-Klux  act  and  all  the  enforce 
ment  bills  have  been  opposed,  and  this  identical  and  very 
natural  feeling  still  keeps  alive  the  opposition  to  enact 
ments  providing  for  the  employment  of  troops  and  dep 
uty  United  States  marshals  and  supervisors  at  the  polls. 
As  Mr.  Bayard  has  said  :  "  The  opposition  that  we  have 
to-day  to  the  laws  passed  by  Congress  to  control  our  elec 
tions,  to  place  our  State  officials  under  indictment  and 
punish  them  for  a  fair  and  reasonable  execution  of  the 
State  laws,  is  all  based  upon  the  same  reason.  It  is  our 
opposition  to  the  principle  of  centralization." 

In  December,  18  TO,  the  Southern  Express  Company 
came  to  Congress  to  get  a  charter.  Mr.  Bayard  opposed 
the  bill  steadily,  because  it  was  a  step  in  the  direction  of 
centralization.  "This  matter,"  said  he,*  "of  drawing 
all  these  powers  into  the  federal  net  is  one  great  source 
of  our  present  political  complications."  It  is  an  entirely 
modern  invention  for  Congress  to  set  about  the  granting 

*  In  the  Senate,  December  16,  1870. 


224  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

of  charters,  and  there  will  be  no  end  to  the  practice  if 
once  begun,  once  permitted.  If  reason  and  common 
sense  have  anything  at  all  to  do  with  chartering  incor 
porations,  they  should  not  be  incorporated  except  in  the 
localities  where  the  individuals  who  compose  them  and 
the  property  they  administer  are  to  be  found.  "  I  am  a 
friend  to  such  enterprises  as  are  proposed  by  this  bill," 
said  Mr.  Bayard ;  "  but  I  am  not  friendly  to  Congress 
undertaking  to  deal  with  them."  Hence,  the  Senator 
meant  to  vote  against  this  bill  and  all  others  like  it. 
One  very  strong  reason  for  opposing  all  such  measures 
was  that  they  diverted  into  the  United  States  courts  a 
whole  class  of  actions  growing  out  of  this  most  multifari 
ous  branch  of  business,  thus  divesting  State  courts  of  a 
very  extensive  line  of  jurisdiction  previously  their  own 
exclusively.  The  practical  operation  of  the  federal  elec 
tion  laws  is  still  more  objectionable  for  the  same  rea 
sons. 

Mr.  Bayard  *  opposed  the  scheme  for  incorporating 
the  Japanese  Steam  Navigation  Company  by  act  of  Con 
gress,  on  exactly  the  same  principle.  "  Before  we  can 
grant  any  such  charters,"  he  said,  "  we  must  settle  the 
fact  of  our  authority  to  do  any  such  thing  under  this  Con 
stitution  of  ours,  of  limited,  specific,  delegated  powers." 
But,  even  independently  of  jurisdiction,  Mr.  Bayard 
looked  upon  the  practice  as  impolitic.  "  I  object,"  said 
he,  "  to  the  practice  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
turning  itself  into  a  vast  machine  for  creating  corpora 
tions.  ...  If  there  was  one  thing  that  the  founders  of 
this  government  thought  they  would  prevent,  it  was  the 
accumulation  of  vast  sums  of  property  in  individual  hands. 
Therefore  they  abolished  the  rule  of  primogeniture ;  they 

*  Senate,  February  6,  1871. 


THE   BATTLE   AGAINST   CENTRALIZATION.  225 

provided  for  the  division  of  fortunes ;  they  proclaimed 
an  easy  method  of  barring  all  entails ;  everything  that 
could  tend  to  diffuse  and  dissipate  property  was  resorted 
to,  and  resorted  to  by  them  in  the  fond  hope  that  it  would 
prevent  the  vast  aggregation  of  fortunes  in  individual 
hands.  And  yet  what  have  we  lived  to  see?  So  far 
from  having  an  equality  of  fortune  produced  among  our 
people,  so  far  from  having  but  little  difference  in  the 
amount  of  means  held  by  men  throughout  the  country, 
we  have  lived  in  the  last  ten  years  of  our  history  to  find 
a  difference  between  the  fortunes  of  individuals  more 
vast,  more  unhealthy,  and  more  unsound  than  any  other 
government  in  this  world  can  give  example  of."  This 
state  of  things  has  been  mainly  caused  by  the  action  of 
government  in  sophisticating  money  so  as  to  make  it 
safer  for  men  to  do  business  collectively  than  individu 
ally,  and  by  protecting  such  gigantic  co-operative  action 
by  the  favors  extended  to  corporations.  It  would  not 
have  been  possible,  Mr.  Bayard  thinks,  for  corporations 
to  attain  their  present  gigantic  and  unwieldy  proportions, 
but  for  the  illicit  powers  secured  by  them  from  legisla 
tures,  State  and  federal.  When  the  proposition  was  made 
to  incorporate,  under  a  sort  of  general  act,  a  system  of 
railroads  in  the  territories,*  it  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Bay 
ard  upon  the  ground  that  "  we  have  had  enough  and 
more  than  enough  of  corporation  in  the  United  States  ; 
its  shadows  are  seen  in  every  legislature  in  the  land,  and 
they  are  oftentimes  seen  in  the  halls  of  Congress.  .  .  . 
I  would,"  he  said,  in  reference  to  this  same  subject,  f 
"  give  no  corporation  the  power  to  live  in  a  State,  except 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  legislature  of  that  State.  The  pow 
er  of  revocation  is  one  that  ought  to  be  retained  in  the 

*  Senate,  April  9,  187-4.  f  APril  13>  1874. 


226  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 

sovereignty  of  the  people  ;  the  contract  to  be  maintained 
so  long  as  it  is  kept  in  good  faith  and  for  public  uses.  The 
original  grant  of  this  franchise  is  for  public  benefit,  and, 
whenever  public  benefit  dictates  its  revocation,  that  revo 
cation  should  take  place." 

In  the  cases  of  the  Chicago  and  Boston  fires,  Mr. 
Bayard,  with  a  heart  full  of  sympathy  for  so  much  suffer 
ing,  yet  felt  himself  constrained  to  set  his  face  sternly 
against  the  remissions  of  customs  duties  which  were 
proposed.  "  Hard  cases,"  he  said,  "  make  bad  prece 
dents.  We  are  rapidly  coming  down  to  something  like 
this :  When  the  extent  of  a  calamity  warrants  it,  it  is 
lawful  to  infringe  upon  and  violate  the  Constitution  ; 
when  the  casualty  is  slight,  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  in 
dulge  our  feelings  and  our  sympathies.  I  hold,  on  the 
contrary,  that,  the  more  you  expand  a  dangerous  principle, 
the  worse  it  is  ;  and,  if  you  are  to  infringe  the  Constitu 
tion  at  all,  you  had  better  confine  yourself  to  slight  cases. 
The  danger  is,  in  this  case,  of  bringing  in  the  extent  of 
this  catastrophe  as  a  reason  why  this  act  is  in  conflict 
with  this  provision  of  the  Constitution"  Any  such  legis 
lation  as  this  Mr.  Bayard  considers  nothing  else  than 
"  unjust  lavishness." 

In  this  same  speech,  from  which  we  have  previously 
quoted  on  u  decentralization  of  power  as  the  issue  of 
the  hour,"  *  Mr.  Bayard  said  : 

"  What  will  we  be,  my  friends,  if  we  are  not  to  exer 
cise  our  powers  of  government  in  regard  to  our  local  con 
cerns  ?  Nay,  further,  what  will  become  of  our  local  con 
cerns  if  we  who  live  in  the  locality  are  not  to  have  the 
sole  voice  in  regulating  them  ?  If  an  abuse  occurs,  who 

*  Wilmington,  October  4,  1874. 


THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  CENTRALIZATION.  227 

will  know  it  so  well  as  those  who  suffer  from  it  ?  If  the 
shoe  pinches,  who  knows  it  so  well  as  the  man  who  wears 
the  shoe  ?  If  a  community  is  suffering  from  official  rob 
bery,  from  plunder  of  any  kind,  who  knows  it  and  suffers 
from  it  ?  The  tax-payers  and  the  property-holders.  They 
are  the  men  whose  property  is  taken ;  they  are  the  men 
who  would  seek  to  apply  the  remedy.  Others  at  a  dis 
tance  may  hear  of  it,  but  it  will  produce  no  impression 
upon  them.  If  you  take  away  from  a  people  the  control 
of  those  matters  which  are  essential  to  their  good  govern 
ment,  what  will  be  the  result  ?  They  will  give  up  all  in 
terest  in  the  government,  and  they  will  become  the  sup 
ple  suppliants  at  the  feet  of  the  central  power  for  any 
favor  that  they  may  get. 

"  Look  for  one  instant  at  what  was  the  condition  of 
France.  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  president  of 
the  French  republic.  Powers  were  given  to  him  to  gov 
ern  that  country  according  to  a  republican  form.  He 
used  those  powers  with  base  treachery  for  the  purpose  of 
converting  a  republic  into  an  empire,  and  he  accom 
plished  that  end.  At  the  cost  of  the  blood  of  many  of 
his  fellow  citizens,  he  placed  himself  in  the  saddle,  and 
his  horse's  feet  upon  the  neck  of  the  French  people. 
TVhat  was  the  result  ?  Instantly  commenced  the  reign  of 
consolidated  power.  All  over  France,  the  germ  of  local 
self-government  was  destroyed.  If  any  population  desired 
to  raise  a  loan  for  the  purpose  of  opening  streets,  beautify 
ing  their  town,  erecting  public  buildings,  or  for  any  other 
local  purpose,  all  was  to  be  done  subject  to  the  sanction 
of  -the  imperial  government  in  Paris.  If  they  wished  to 
elect  a  mayor  of  their  city,  they  had  the  privilege  of  se 
lecting  a  number  of  names,  and  out  of  those  names  the 
emperor  condescended  to  choose  the  man  he  liked. 


228  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

"  This  was  the  history  of  French  government.  What 
was  the  result?  The  people  no  longer  bothered  them 
selves  about  it.  They  set  to  work  to  attend  to  their  pri 
vate  affairs.  They  spun  their  beautiful  silks  ;  they  made 
their  exquisite  velvets.  They  grew  rich ;  they  grew  vo 
luptuous  ;  they  grew  gay.  But  where  was  self-govern 
ment,  and  where  were  their  liberties  ?  France  was  never 
so  rich  in  money,  so  filled  with  men,  Paris  never  so  gay 
and  beautiful,  as  when  the  collision  between  France  and 
Germany  occurred. 

"  Look,  then,  at  the  picture.  Napoleon  had  had  just 
war  enough  in  the  Crimea  to  whet  anew  the  ancient  ardor 
of  the  French  people  for  military  glory.  He  had  the  luck 
to  have  that  war  end  just  at  the  time  when  the  French 
fame  was  highest.  Subsequently  he  had  a  collision  with 
Austria,  and  upon  the  battle-fields  of  Italy  he  again  had 
singular  good  military  fortune,  which  again  just  ended  in 
good  time.  The  fortune  of  war  had  been  with  him,  and 
the  pretext  for  keeping  up  enormous  military  establish 
ments  to  gratify  the  vanity  of  the  people  and  to  fortify 
his  own  power  over  them  was  given  to  him.  But  the  time 
of  struggle  with  Germany  came — Germany,  compact  and 
resolute ;  taught  in  the  hard  school  of  adversity  the  true 
way  to  success;  Germany,  who,  through  long  years  of 
humiliation  at  the  hands  of  France,  had  learned  those  les 
sons  that  adversity  alone  can  teach  men  or  nations.  The 
French  met  them  in  over-confidence ;  the  Germans  met 
the  French  with  resolute  energy ;  and  you  know  the  re 
sult And  can  it  be,  with  a  pursuance  of  this 

system  of  centralization,  that  these  powers  can  long  re 
main  to  us  ?  I  ask  you  to  think  of  it,  you  men  who  may 
be  discontented  with  the  nomination  of  Horace  Greeley, 
you  men  who  may  be  discontented  with  the  Democratic 


THE  BATTLE  AGAINST  CENTRALIZATION,  229 

party  or  the  Liberal  Kepublican  party,  for  they  are  now 
one,  and  acting  firmly  together. 

"  So  far  as  the  result  upon  our  executive  and  our  leg 
islative  departments  in  the  national  government  is  con 
cerned,  the  Liberal  Kepublicans  and  the  Democrats  stand  or 
fall  together  for  the  next  four  years ;  and  what  will  happen 
after  that  it  will  be  time  enough  for  us  to  know  when  the 
issues  arise.  When  they  do  arise,  we  will  test  them  by  the 
same  principles  by  which  we  are  testing  measures  to-day. 

"  This  is  my  position,"  said  he,  in  conclusion.  "  I 
want  it  to  be  your  position.  I  want  it  to  be  the  position 
of  every  man,  whether  he  is  of  my  party  or  not,  I  want 
him  to  have  rights  that  neither  I  nor  my  party  can  invade, 
and  I  want  my  party  and  myself  to  stand  equal  with  him 
in  that  respect.  And  can  it  be,  with  a  pursuance  of  this 
system  of  centralization,  that  these  powers  can  long  re 
main  to  us  ?  I  ask  you  to  think  of  it,  you  men  who  may 
be  discontented  with  nominations.  Our  people  become 
fit  to  take  part  in  large  matters  by  being  educated  in  mi 
nor  matters.  A  man  goes  to  the  county  seat  to  serve  as 
commissioner  or  assessor,  and  he  learns  the  order  of  busi 
ness  :  how  to  levy  taxes,  how  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the 
county,  how  to  provide  for  the  poor,  how  to  provide  for 
the  schools,  how  to  provide  for  the  roads,  how  to  provide 
for  the  police,  and  to  attend  to  all  the  matters  necessary 
for  local  self-government.  After  a  time,  having  that 
knowledge,  he  expands  his  attention  and  his  faculties  to 
the  government  of  his  State,  and  after  he  has  learned  how 
to  govern  his  State,  and  has  been  so  practiced,  he  is  much 
more  fitted  then  to  take  part  in  the  government  of  other 
States  in  the  general  government.  That  is  the  natural 
expansion.  It  is  the  natural  course  of  human  conduct  in 
regard  to  our  business  affairs.  We  begin  by  trusting  men 


230  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

in  a  small  way.  As  their  capacities  are  proven  and  ex 
erted  they  expand,  and  as  they  expand  the  trust  expands, 
and  as  the  trust  expands  their  experience  expands,  until 
they  become  the  valued  members  of  society  upon  whos<; 
judgment  and  wisdom  and  good  character  we  all  rely  fu;1 
guidance  in  our  daily  affairs. 

"  I  beg  of  you,  therefore,  do  not  by  your  votes  de 
stroy  the  autonomy  of  your  State.  Do  not  consent  to 
act  with  any  party  that  does  so  destroy  it.  It  is  essential 
to  your  liberties  and  mine.  I  am  speaking  as  much  foi 
you,  my  Republican  fellow-citizens,  as  for  myself,  al 
though  at  this  time  the  immediate  effect  of  your  law  is 
to  strike  down  officials  who  are  elected  by  men  who  think 
in  politics  as  I  do.  But  there  is  no  difference  to  me  in 
that.  I  would  feel  as  unwilling  to  see  the  just  powers  of 
a  Republican  official  in  the  State  of  Delaware  interfered 
with  unduly  as  I  would  the  just  powers  of  a  man  of  my 
own  party,  and  I  would  fly  as  quickly  to  the  forum  here 
before  the  people,  or  go  into  court  to  insist  upon  his 
rights,  as  I  would  upon  my  own  or  of  a  man  who  be 
longed  to  the  same  political  party  as  myself." 

In  New  England  and  the  West,  and  in  other  sections 
also,  where  the  township  system,  as  yet  intact,  preserves 
to  every  voter  the  consciousness  of  local  self-government, 
the  force  of  Mr.  Bayard's  apprehensions  and  warnings  is 
naturally  much  less  felt  than  in  communities  where  the 
State  and  county  systems  have  been  gradually  impaired 
by  federal  encroachments.  But,  if  the  township  system 
should  be  left  unsupported  at  last,  how  can  it  stand  alone  ? 
And,  if  it  should  fall,  would  not  those  who  have  lived 
under  it  so  long,  and  prospered  by  means  of  it,  lose  ten 
times  as  much,  and  feel  their  losses  ten  times  as  acutely, 
as  more  Southern  communities  ? 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ECONOMY    AND    REFORM    IN    GOVERNMENT. 

As  the  power  of  the  federal  government  kept  steadily 
increasing  at  the  expense  of  the  rights  of  the  States  and 
of  the  people,  so  increased  the  inefficiency  and  extrava 
gance  of  the  public  service.  Offices  came  to  be  looked 
upon  as  rewards  for  political  services,  and  wrere  distrib 
uted,  not  among  those  who  could  best  perform  the  duties, 
but  those  who  had  most  assisted,  or  would  most  assist,  in 
winning  a  political  triumph.  The  higher  officials  claimed 
and  received  their  allotments  of  patronage,  which  each 
doled  out  to  the  hungry  aspirants  from  his  State,  county, 
or  district,  according  to  a  scale  of  merits  well  understood, 
in  which  fitness  for  the  duties  of  the  office  was  the  last 
thing  considered  (if  considered  at  all). 

Naturally,  the  persons  selected  for  such  merits  cared 
much  for  the  continued  favor  of  their  patrons,  and  but 
little,  if  at  all,  for  the  public  service.  It  was  not  to  be 
supposed  that  a  clerk  in  a  department,  who  had  received 
his  position  as  a  reward  for  faithful  work  at  primary 
meetings  or  in  corner  groceries,  should  expect  to  have  no 
easier  place  than  the  clerk  in  a  bank  or  store  who  owed 
his  situation  merely  to  honesty  and  capacity.  If  hours 
of  work  were  made  short  and  pay  high,  if  the  men  were 
inefficient  or  idle,  the  defect  could  be  made  up  by  em- 


232  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ploying  more;  thus  widening  the  area  and  influence  of 
administrative  patronage. 

It  is  not  alleged  that  this  state  of  things  existed  in  all 
the  departments — there  have  always  been  honorable  ex 
ceptions  ;  just  as  in  the  vast  army  of  officials  there  have 
been  many  faithful  and  laborious  public  servants ;  bu ; 
such  was  the  natural  tendency  of  the  whole  system. 

Nor  do  we  lay  the  existence  of  this  state  of  things  to 
the  charge  of  the  Kepublican  party  alone.  The  seeds  of 
the  evil  had  been  sown  long  before  they  came  into  power. 
But,  while  it  was  contrary  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  true  Democracy,  it  was  accordant  with  the  Republican 
idea  of  aggrandizing  federal  power  and  influence ;  and, 
inconsequence,  under  a  Republican  administration  it  bur 
geoned  and  blossomed  with  a  luxuriance  of  poisonous 
growth  never  before  dreamed  of,  shocking  and  disgusting 
the  wiser  and  more  patriotic  men  of  that  party. 

To  such  a  pass  had  things  come  by  the  close  of  John 
son's  presidency  that  one  of  the  leading  thinkers  of  the 
North  wrote : 

"  Our  present  system  of  appointments  to  office  is  not 
only  scandalously  wasteful,  but  is  doing  more  to  lower  the 
tone  of  public  morals  than  all  other  causes  together.  It  in 
volves  every  member  of  Congress  in  a  network  of  corrupt 
bargains  from  which  there  is  no  escape.  ...  As  compe 
tence  is  the  last  qualification  regarded,  the  very  govern 
ment  itself  keeps  before  the  people  a  standing  incentive 
to  dishonesty  by  paying  high  wages  for  poor  work."  * 

And  when,  by  dint  of  hard  service,  or  strong  recom 
mendations,  the  prize  of  a  position  in  some  public  office 
had  been  won,  it  was  by  no  means  an  unalloyed  felicity. 
The  free  American  citizen  had  riveted  a  collar  about  his 

*  Mr.  J.  R.  Lowell,  in  "  North  American  Review,"  January,  1869. 


ECONOMY   AND   REFORM   IN   GOVERNMENT.  233 

neck  engraved  with  the  name  of  the  administration,  and 
"  Gurth,  the  born  thrall  of  Cedric  the  Saxon,"  would  not 
have  envied  him  his  liberty.  Whatever  his  political  views 
might  be,  on  any  matter  on  which  he  could  express  an  opin 
ion  or  cast  a  vote,  he  was  now  bound  to  support  the  admin 
istration  through  thick  and  thin.  Spies,  calling  themselves 
"  members  of  the  G.  A.  R.,"  or  belonging  to  the  peculiar 
system  of  delatorship  organized  by  Mr.  Boutwell,  infested 
all  the  departments,  listening  to  every  word,  and  ready 
to  report  any  want  of  zeal  or  independence  of  thought 
detected  in  any  employee.  Kot  only  this,  but  they  were 
expected  to  contribute  a  percentage  of  their  wages  to  the 
administration  campaign  fund,  and  they  dared  not  refuse 
or  murmur.  Here  and  there  a  bold  spirit  offered  resist 
ance  to  this  abject  slavery,  and  was  quickly  made  an  ex 
ample  of.  Kay,  the  pretext  of  voluntary  contributions 
was  cast  aside,  and  the  spectacle  was  presented  of  a  Unit 
ed  States  marshal  standing  at  the  pay-table  and  taking 
the  tax  from  each  salary  as  it  was  paid.  And  this  plan 
was  presently  replaced  by  the  simpler  mode  of  "  docking  " 
the  salaries,  and  filching  a  corruption  fund  from  the  bread 
of  women  and  children. 

The  extravagant  recklessness  and  wastefulness  of  the 
war  had  also  produced  their  natural  results.  The  federal 
government  was  expected  to  distribute  with  a  lavish  hand 
the  money  and  the  property  of  the  people  whenever  a 
sufficient  claim  to  its  bounty  could  be  established ;  and 
what  constituted  the  sufficiency  of  a  claim  can  be  very 
well  understood.  The  doctrine  of  internal  improvements 
took  its  widest  swing,  and  it  became  possible  to  bribe 
whole  States  and  sections  by  colossal  subsidies  or  dona 
tions.  The  public  lands  were  given  away  by  Congress 
with  reckless  prodigality  to  great  corporations  to  make 


234  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

railroads  which,  had  they  really  been  needed,  could  have 
been  better  made  by  private  enterprise,  and  at  a  fraction 
of  the  cost.  The  Northern  Pacific  was  endowed  with 
lands  equal  in  area  to  the  combined  territories  of  Den 
mark,  Holland,  Belgium,  Portugal,  and  Greece;  and 
there  were  railroad  schemes  before  Congress  for  appro 
priating  400,000,000  acres  of  the  public  domain.  Of 
course  this  monstrous  extravagance  fostered  corruption 
of  every  kind ;  schemes  fastened  themselves  like  parasites 
upon  other  schemes ;  log-rolling  secured  concert  of  action 
in  the  raids  on  the  public  purse ;  and  that  extraordinary 
culmination  of  fraud  and  impudence  known  as  the  Credit 
Mobilier  was  not  so  remarkable  for  its  shamelessness  as 
for  its  exposure. 

Of  this  state  of  things  the  writer  whom  we  have  just 
quoted  says : 

"  Congress  itself  is  fast  becoming  a  brokers'  board  for 
operators  on  the  treasury.  Corporate  interests  are  begin 
ning  to  be  represented  there,  quite  as  much  as  the  po 
litical  opinions  of  constituencies ;  and  so  universal  is  the 
want  of  faith  in  honest  motive  that  not  a  measure  can 
pass  involving  the  payment  of  public  money  without 
charges  of  corruption." 

It  was  fondly  hoped  by  those  Republicans  in  whom 
party  spirit  had  not  overmastered  patriotism,  that  this 
state  of  things  would  be  greatly  improved,  if  not  entirely 
reformed,  by  the  election  of  General  Grant.  As  his 
military  services  and  success  had  lifted  him  to  his  exalted 
position,  it  was  believed  that  he  would  be  able  to  keep 
himself  independent  of  the  more  debasing  political  influ 
ences  ;  his  powers  of  resistance  were  considered  equal  to 
any  strain ;  and  the  fact  that  he  had  been  inculpated  in 
no  fraudulent  act  created  a  natural  belief  that  he  was 


ECONOMY  AND  REFORM  IX  GOVERNMENT.  035 

honest  and  would  sustain  honesty.  It  is  really  pathetic, 
in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  to  read  the  glowing 
anticipations  of  that  time.  Never  were  brighter  hopes 
doomed  to  more  humiliating  disappointment.  Whether, 
as  his  enemies  alleged,  Grant  went  into  the  presidency 
fully  prepared  to  run  the  machine  in  the  old  corrupt  way, 
and  make  out  of  the  office  the  most  that  he  could  for 
himself  and  his  friends  ;  or  whether,  as  his  apologists  say, 
he  wished  to  act  uprightly,  but  was  forced  to  surrender 
to  the  horde  of  politicians  and  office-seekers,  it  is  not  our 
business  to  decide,  nor  need  the  country  greatly  care. 
The  fact  remains  that  under  his  administration  such  a 
tide  of  profligacy,  extravagance,  corruption,  and  malfea 
sance,  in  nearly  all  branches  of  the  public  service,  set  in, 
as  made  previous  abuses  seem  trifling  in  comparison. 
This  is  not  a  prejudiced  Democratic  judgment :  a  well- 
known  Republican  writer*  says,  "It  was  reserved  for 
the  administration  of  President  Grant  to  descend  lower 
than  the  worst  of  its  predecessors  in  the  scale  of  self- 
degradation."  And  this  censure  was  passed  in  October, 
1^)9,  before  Grant  had  been  in  office  eight  months  of  his 
eight  years  ;  before  the  people  had  begun  to  measure  the 
extent  and  fathom  the  depths  of  Giantism. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  President  Grant  selected 
his  friends  chiefly  for  their  dishonesty ;  but  it  was  his 
singular  infelicity  that  in  so  large  a  number  of  cases  those 
whom  he  honored  with  special  confidence,  appointed  to 
offices  of  trust,  and  stood  by  despite  evil  report,  damag 
ing  disclosures,  and  even  judicial  sentence,  turned  out  to 
be  swindlers  and  thieves.  There  was  "  Boss  "  Shepherd 
and  his  crew  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  who,  being 
authorized  to  expend  §4,000,000  in  the  improvement  of 

*  Mr.  Henry  Brooks  Adams. 


236  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

streets  and  general  embellishment  of  Washington  city, 
spent  $20,000,000,  and  raised  the  debt  of  the  District  to 
$25,000,000.  How  this  was  done,  one  sample  may  suffice 
A  contract  for  a  job  of  grading  was  taken  at  $975.  Tlu 
first  contractor  did  a  small  portion  of  the  work,  for  whicl 
he  received  $1,450,  when  he  died.  The  rest  of  the  worl 
was  then  turned  over  to  another  party,  who  receivec 
$18,000  for  what  lie  did  or  did  not  do.  Another  man,  ai 
adventurer  "  on  the  make,"  received  $97,000  for  absolute!} 
nothing  at  all,  "  without  an  hour  of  labor  or  a  penny  of 
responsibility."  Does  anybody  suppose  that  Shepherd. 
Mullett,  and  the  rest,  went  about  like  the  Caliph  Haroun 
Alraschid,  bestowing  all  these  purses  of  gold  from  the 
people's  hard  earnings  in  mere  caprice  of  bounty,  or  were 
they  too  "  on  the  make  "  ? 

The  latter  was  the  universal  belief,  nor  was  it  lessened 
by  that  unparalleled  and  most  outrageous  attempt,  "  that 
crime,"  as  Mr.  Bayard  called  it,  "  not  fit  to  be  mentioned 
in  our  own  day  and  time,"  the  safe-burglary  conspiracy 
to  convict  Mr.  Alexander  of  a  felony  committed  by  the 
conspirators  themselves.  The  plot  failed,  but  all  the 
storm  of  popular  indignation  at  wrongs  known,  and  other? 
more  than  suspected,  never  shook  the  President's  con 
fiding  affection  for  "  Boss  "  Shepherd,  any  more  than  for 
Murphy,  or  Leet,  or  Babcock,  or  scores  of  others.  Hi- 
blind  devotion  to  his  idols  seemed  to  have  taken  for  its 
motto  Moore's  passionate  couplet : 

"I  know  not,  I  ask  not,  if  guilt's  in  that  heart; 
I  but  know  that  I  love  thee,  whatever  thou  art." 

Such  was  the  state  of  tilings  with  which  Mr.  Bayard 
and  those  who  felt  and  acted  with  him  had  to  contend. 
But  for  ten  years  he  was  one  of  a  feeble  minority,  where 


ECONOMY   AND   REFORM   IN   GOVERNMENT.  037 

his  voice  indeed  could  be  heard,  and  was  heard,  clear  as  a 
clarion,  in  the  denunciation  of  wrong  and  the  defense  of 
right,  but  where  it  was  next  to  impossible  to  initiate  any 
measure  of  reform,  and  quite  impossible  to  carry  it. 
Revenue  bills,  moreover,  originate  in  the  lower  house, 
so  that  a  senator  had  but  little  opportunity  for  any  prac 
tical  movement  in  the  way  of  retrenchment.  But  what 
he  could  do,  he  did.  He  cast  his  unavailing  vote,  and  he 
stripped  the  masks  of  patriotism,  of  morality,  of  expe 
diency,  from  selfish,  unjust,  and  unwise  legislation.  And 
he  brought  to  the  consideration  of  these  questions  not 
only  the  unswerving  integrity,  the  stainless  honor  which 
political  foes  as  well  as  friends  admire  in  his  character, 
but  also  that  clear  practical  insight,  the  gift  of  his  thor 
ough  business  training,  which  enabled  him  to  expose  the 
futility  of  the  schemes  of  crotchety  enthusiasts,  and  dis 
entangle  the  sophistries  of  crafty  contrivers,  and  to  show 
the  straightforward,  practical  business  wray  of  dealing 
with  the  matter. 

In  March,  1873,  a  bill  was  passed  by  Congress  which, 
owing  in  part  to  a  misunderstanding  of  its  real  operation, 
excited  the  public  mind  to  a  degree  disproportioned  to  its 
importance.  This  was  the  bill  regulating  the  compensa 
tion  of  members  and  other  public  officials,  coarsely  called 
the  "  salary  grab."  The  popular  conception  of  it  was  that 
members  had  agreed  to  vote  themselves  a  large  and  un 
justifiable  increase  of  pay,  at  a  time  wrhen  the  country 
could  ill  bear  any  additional  burden.  This,  however,  was 
not  exactly  the  case.  The  bill,  so  far  as  members  of  Con 
gress  were  concerned,  provided  for  an  equalization  of  the 
pay  by  giving  each  senator,  representative,  and  delegate 
$7,500  a  year  in  lieu  of  the  $5,000  and  mileage  before 
allowed.  This,  to  the  members  who  lived  most  distant 


238  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

from  Washington,  would  have  been  lessening  of  salary : 
to  a  large  fraction  it  would  have  given  a  trifling  increase : 
and  to  the  rest,  an  increase  more  or  less  considerable.  It 
is  possible  that,  considering  the  greatly  enhanced  expenses 
of  living  in  Washington,  and  the  fact  that  most  of  the 
members  had  left  other  profitable  avocations,  the  former 
salary,  in  the  depreciated  currency,  may  not  have  been  a 
sufficient  compensation.  But  the  most  objectionable  fea 
ture  of  the  bill  was  a  retroactive  clause  extending  the  in 
creased  payment  over  the  Forty-second  Congress  then  just 
expiring. 

Knowing  the  opposition  that  would  be  raised,  the 
framers  of  the  measure  held  it  back  until  the  very  last 
hours  of  the  Congress,  and  then  brought  it  forward,  when 
there  was  no  time  left  for  discussion,  tacked  to  the  general 
appropriation  bill.  It  was  at  midnight  of  March  3d  that 
the  bill  was  reported  from  the  committee  of  conference, 
and  the  Congress  expired  at  noon  of  the  next  day.  Mr. 
Bayard  and  those  who  thought  with  him  disapproved  the 
bill,  and  especially  the  retroactive  feature ;  but  what  was 
to  be  done  ?  The  whole  bill  had  to  stand  or  fall  as  it  was ; 
and  the  only  alternatives  were  to  pass  it  as  it  stood,  or  to 
defeat  it  altogether,  in  which  latter  case,  of  course,  as  there 
would  have  been  no  appropriation  to  carry  on  the  govern 
ment,  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  assemble  Congress 
the  next  month,  causing  directly  a  heavy  pecuniary  loss 
to  the  country,  and  indirectly  much  greater  damage  in 
unwise  and  injurious  legislation.  Mr.  Bayard,  without 
hesitation,  took  the  lesser  of  the  two  evils,  and  voted  for 
the  bill  in  preference  to  the  extra  session.  The  back  pay 
handed  to  him  he  returned  to  the  treasury  of  the  United 
States. 

So  loud  was  the  expreesion  of  popular  disapprobation 


ECONOMY   AND  REFORM   IN   GOVERNMENT.  239 

of  this  measure,  that  even  its  foremost  advocates  were 
alarmed  at  the  probable  consequences,  and  in  January, 
1874,  Senator  Morton  introduced  a  bill  to  reduce  the 
salaries  of  members  of  Congress  to  the  former  rates,  and 
providing  for  the  return  to  the  treasury  of  the  excess 
already  paid.  The  latter  absurd  and  impracticable  propo 
sition  was,  of  course,  only  a  tub  to  the  popular  whale ; 
none  knew  better  than  the  senator  that  it  could  not  be 
carried  out. 

But  Mr.  Bayard  was  not  the  man  to  be  blown  around 
by  every  real  or  supposed  breath  of  public  opinion.  As 
he  had  voted  for  the  measure  while  disapproving  it,  be 
cause  he  saw  that  by  doing  so  he  was  serving  the  public 
interest,  so  now  he  had  the  courage  to  face  the  storm  and 
tell  the  public  that  it  was  in  error.  While  the  introducer 
of  the  bill  was,  or  pretended  to  be,  tremulously  eager  to 
undo  his  own  work,  Mr.  Bayard  stood  boldly  forward  to 
insist  that  equity  and  reason  should  govern  their  action, 
and  that  two  wrongs  would  not  make  a  right.  He  showed 
that  the  plan  to  compel  members  to  refund  the  excess  of 
pay  by  a  tax  on  their  future  salaries,  even  if  constitutional, 
would  operate  unequally,  and  would  be  impracticable  in 
many  cases,  such  as  that  of  Mr.  Casserly,  who  had  resigned 
his  seat. 

The  Houses  of  Congress  had  the  power  to  fix  the  com 
pensation  of  their  own  members ;  there  was  no  question 
of  that ;  and  in  determining  it  they  should  be  guided  by 
justice  alone — justice  to  the  public  and  justice  to  them 
selves.  It  should  be  liberal  enough  for  a  reasonable  and 
comfortable  maintenance,  and  no  more  ;  not  so  high  as  to 
make  the  salary  the  chief  object  of  ambition,  nor  so  low 
as  to  tempt  members  to  eke  it  out  by  indirect  means,  or 
to  add  another  to  the  causes,  already  too  numerous,  which 


240  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

rendered  men  of  high  ability  and  character  reluctant  to 
seek  public  office.  On  this  point  he  says,  in  his  speech  of 
January  7,  1874 : 

"  Mr.  President,  in  my  opinion  one  of  the  chief  dan 
gers  of  our  day  and  country  is  the  devotion  of  citizens  to 
their  private  pursuits,  to  the  neglect  of  their  public  du 
ties.  If  this  federal  Constitution  shall  go  down,  if  this 
experiment  for  human  self-government  shall  fail,  there 
will  be  few  more  to  blame  than  those  intelligent  men 
who  have  grown  rich  in  their  private  pursuits,  and  al 
lowed  places  of  high  public  trust  and  honor  to  be  filled 
by  men  less  worthy  and  able  than  themselves,  but  who 
were  willing  at  least  to  give  their  time  to  public  service. 
Who  does  not  know  of  the  frequent  advice  to  young  men 
of  talent  and  character :  '  Keep  out  of  politics ;  stick  to 
your  business,  to  your  profession,  to  your  ledger,  to  your 
office,  to  your  studio  ;  keep  out  of  politics '  2  This  is  the 
common  cry  which  is  accepted  as  wise,  as  just,  as  com 
mendable,  in  a  country  which  must  depend  for  the  eleva 
tion  and  the  continuance  of  its  government  upon  the  best 
efforts  of  its  most  intelligent,  its  most  able,  its  most  con 
scientious  men. 

"What  is  the  consequence  of  all  this  un-American, 
worldly-wrise  advice  to  the  youth  of  our  country,  too  often 
followed  by  them  ?  They  have  sought  to  make  the  name 
of  politician  discreditable.  They  have  sought  to  make 
attention  to  public  duties  suspicious.  And  what  has  been 
the  result,  senators?  Has  it  not  been  a  lower  tone  of 
public  service  ?  Has  it  not  been  a  degraded  tone  of  pub 
lic  service  ?  I  say  that  to  a  certain  degree  it  has  ;  for  I 
believe  if  there  should  be  an  increase  in  honorable  com 
petition  between  men  of  intellect  and  character  for  pub 
lic  position,  it  would  tend  largely  to  the  elevation  of  the 


ECONOMY  AND   REFORM   IN   GOVERNMENT. 

tone  of  our  service  and  to  the  benefit  of  the  whole  coun 
try.  This  government  is  not  an  automatic  machine.  It 
is  not  to  run  itself.  It  calls  for  the  efforts  constantly,  and 
often  times  the  self-sacrificing  efforts  of  the  ablest  and  the 
purest  and  the  bravest,  to  guide  it  on  in  the  right  direc 
tion,  and  to  keep  it  in  the  paths  of  honor  and  safety. 

"  Now,  senators,  if  a  large  pay  would  of  itselfe  scure 
really  the  best  men,  if  it  would  really  fill  Congress  with 
statesmen  worthy  of  the  name,  what  measure  of  economy 
would  be  so  beneficent  to  the  whole  people  ?  The  benefit 
to  the  people  of  even  one  pure-minded,  clear-headed, 
•patriotic  man  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in 
either  house,  is  not  to  be  weighed  in  money,  and  scarce 
any  sum  in  reason  but  would  wisely  be  paid  if  that  alone 
would  secure  it.  I  do  not  say  that  it  would ;  I  do  not 
believe  that  by  money  alone  such  things  are  to  be  accom 
plished.  The  thing  is  for  us  to  consider,  upon  a  question 
so  broad  as  this,  what  is  the  just  medium  that  will  tend  to 
secure  the  presence  here  of  proper  men  capable  of  render 
ing  valuable  service  to  the  country  ?  A  proper,  respect 
able  maintenance  ought  to  be  secured — no  more.  The  Rep 
resentatives  should  not  be  harassed  and  embarrassed  by 
constant  pecuniary  needs.  A  man  is  not  to  come  here  to 
save  or  make  money  by  his  office  and  position ;  such  a 
man  is  unfit  for  the  place,  and  falls  far  below  a  proper 
comprehension  of  its  duties  and  responsibility." 

His  proposition,  in  view  of  the  general  public  distress, 
and  the  urgent  necessity  for  economy,  was  that  the  pay 
of  members  of  the  houses  should  be  replaced  at  what  it 
was  before  the  change,  without  any  attempt  to  compel 
restitution  of  the  sums  already  paid.  The  increased  sala 
ries  of  heads  of  departments  and  officers  and  employees 
of  Congress,  he  thought,  should  remain  as  they  had  been 


242  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

fixed.  His  speech  concludes  thus :  "  I  am  perfectly  aware 
that  there  is  a  great  deal  more  that  is  important  in  this 
subject  of  compensation  for  public  service.  Certain  it  is 
that  I  am  not  in  favor  of  illegitimate  appropriations  for 
expenditures  ;  and,  as  I  am  opposed  to  illegitimate  expen 
diture,  I  wish  to  prevent  that  by  a  reasonable,  legitimate 
appropriation.  You  have  seen  already  how  a  habit  has 
grown  into  the  executive  departments  of  allowances  of 
a  questionable  nature  for  those  conveniences  which  are 
essential  to  the  prompt  transaction  of  public  business, 
and  scandal  has  been  created  by  it ;  but  I  think  the  best 
way  to  avoid  these  things  is  to  make  a  reasonable  appro 
priation,  that  shall  not  drive  officials,  high  or  low,  into 
illegitimate  methods  of  eking  out  an  insufficient  income. 

"  Mr.  President,  I  think  it  of  the  last  importance  to 
the  people  of  this  country  that  they  should  have  confi 
dence  in  the  integrity,  the  home-bred  pecuniary  honesty, 
of  their  representatives  and  of  their  rulers.  It  is  the  duty 
of  every  man  to  do  what  he  can  to  establish  that.  It  is 
his  duty  equally,  in  establishing  confidence,  to  strike  down 
in  any  place,  high  or  low,  dishonesty  and  peculation  in 
officials.  I  rejoice,  sir,  that  the  public  eye  is  turned  in 
such  criticism.  It  has  not  turned  too  soon ;  it  can  not  be 
turned  too  often  or  too  closely  ;  and  I  hope  the  day  will 
come  when  any  public  official  of  the  United  States  who 
is  found  engaging,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  abuses  of  the 
privileges  of  his  office  by  small  peculations,  by  indirect 
and  illegitimate  gains,  will  be  rebuked  by  a  wholesome 
public  sentiment  of  the  country,  and  that  no  man  in  office 
will  be  found  to  sustain  such  conduct.  And  it  is  from 
high  officials  that  the  example  can  come  with  best  effect, 
and  the  public  service  surely  needs  it. 

"  Sir.  I  hope  public  attention  and  displeasure  have  been 


ECONOMY   AND   REFORM   IN   GOVERNMENT.  243 

aroused.  I  hope  they  will  not  slumber  until  these  abuses 
si  mil  have  been  remedied.  But,  depend  upon  it,  the  people, 
who  from  a  sense  of  honesty  demand  these  reforms,  are  too 
just  to  ask  for  a  sacrifice  that  is  unnatural,  and  which  can 
not  be  performed  except  at  a  loss  to  the  public  service." 

The  singular  lack  of  wisdom  of  the  ruling  party  in 
all  matters  of  political  economy  and  finance — next  to 
their  theories  of  currency,  for  a  parallel  to  which  we 
must  go  back  to  the  days  of  John  Law — was  chiefly  dis 
played  in  their  schemes  of  tariff  and  excise.  Instead  of 
adjusting  the  burden  of  taxation  so  as  to  make  it  press  as 
equally  as  possible,  some  industries  were  pampered  and 
others  crushed  with  extortionate  imposts.  Caprice,  or 
sentiment,  or  even  less  excusable  motives,  seemed  so  to 
govern  their  measures  that  they  succeeded  in  combining 
the  greatest  possible  inconvenience  and  distress  with  the 
least  proportionate  net  income  to  the  public  purse.  They 
seemed  not  to  know  that  in  all  matters  of  this  kind  there 
is  a  point  which  it  is  futile  to  attempt  to  pass,  because 
men  will  take  the  chances  of  breaking  or  evading  the 
law  rather  than  pay  the  excessive  tax ;  and,  let  coast- 
guardsmen  and  excisemen  be  multiplied  as  you  will,  for 
one  smuggler  or  illicit  manufacturer  that  is  caught,  ten 
go  free.  As  for  the  pernicious  effect  of  enlisting  the 
feelings  of  the  community  in  favor  of  law-breakers  and 
against  the  law,  we  will  not  speak  of  that,  though  one 
would  have  thought  it  worthy  of  consideration  by  those 
who  claimed  a  monopoly  of  "  high  moral  ideas." 

One  of  these  futile  and  vexatious  measures  was  the 
tax  and  tariff  bill  of  1875,  the  true  character  of  which, 
and  indeed  of  the  most  of  this  crotchety  and  tentative 
legislation,  was  well  shown  by  Mr.  Bayard  in  his  com 
ments  upon  it : 


LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

"  It  is  simply  a  revenue  bill,  and  I  have  but  this  com 
ment  to  make  upon  it :  that,  in  accordance  with  almost 
every  bill  which  has  been  framed  under  the  present  ad 
ministration  and  those  which  preceded  it  for  twelve  or 
fifteen  years  past,  it  has  not  been  so  much  a  bill  to  pro 
vide  revenue  to  the  treasury  as  it  has  been  to  create  un 
equal  burdens  and  to  protect  favored  and  special  classes. 
...  I  trust  this  is  the  last  bill  which  under  the  false 
pretense  of  raising  revenue  is  only  a  bill  to  continue  that 
unequal  system  of  raising  taxes  which  shall  bring  little 
revenue  compared  with  the  tax  and  cost  to  the  public, 
while  benefit  flows  to  favored  and  special  classes.  .  .  . 

"  When  will  senators  learn  that  an  over-stringent  law 
defeats  itself  ?  Laws  to  be  successful  must  be  reasona 
ble  ;  they  must  be  proportioned  to  the  power  of  the  gov 
ernment  to  collect  without  that  great  excess  of  inquisi 
torial  power  and  of  annoyance  to  those  who  are  to  be 
subjected  to  the  tax.  Besides,  it  seems  to  me  that  in  this 
matter  of  taxing  distilled  spirits  there  runs  that  fine  vein 
of  morality  combined  with  many  views  which  seems  to 
me  so  false  and  so  absurd.  I  do  not  object  to  the  system, 
for  I  think  it  a  true  one,  of  levying  your  tax  upon  lead 
ing  articles,  and  allowing  the  tax  to  rest  there  until  by 
its  stability  it  shall  extend  itself  over  all  those  who  con 
sume,  and  thereby  produce  equality  of  taxation ;  but 
many  are  voting  this  high  tax  upon  whiskey,  as  it  is 
termed,  for  the  purpose  of  inflicting  a  high  moral  pun 
ishment  at  the  same  time  that  you  exact  large  sums 
of  money.  Such  a  system  of  mingling  morals  and  poli 
tics  is  absurd  and  unsound.  It  is  property  which  you 
are  taxing,  and  you  ought  to  view  it  solely  in  a  com 
mercial  sense  if  you  wish  to  treat  it  with  reason  and 
justice." 


ECONOMY   AND   REFORM   IN   GOVERNMENT.  245 

Mr.  Bayard's  sound,  business-like  way  of  looking  at 
questions  of  this  sort,  to  which  we  have  already  adverted, 
is  well  shown  again  in  his  remarks  on  the  reduction  of 
the  tax  on  tobacco  (February  17,  1879) : 

"  I  have  sometimes  thought,  in  the  last  ten  years  of 
my  life,  that  there  runs  through  many  of  our  laws  a  fine 
spirit  of  moral  instruction  designed  to  punish  whatever 
of  immorality  may  lurk  in  the  personal  habits  of  men, 
to  give  them  a  fine  lesson,  and  at  the  same  time  to  extort 
from  them  heavy  pecuniary  tribute.  I  do  not  believe 
that  legislation  should  be  a  matter  of  sentiment ;  but  I 
think  it  should  be  enacted  with  reference  to  the  charac 
ters,  the  habits,  the  capacities,  the  prejudices  of  the  popu 
lation  over  whom  it  is  to  be  extended.  I  have  witnessed 
in  our  tariff  laws,  and  in  their  administration,  such  a  tone 
of  reprobation  and  rebuke  toward  the  merchants  from 
whose  commerce  we  were  drawing  mighty  revenues  as 
was  scarcely  consistent  with  the  dignity  of  a  government 
addressing  a  respectable  and  responsible  body  of  its  own 
citizens.  And  so,  in  all  their  multifarious  laws  and  regu 
lations  in  regard  to  the  imposition  and  collection  of  taxes 
upon  tobacco  and  distilled  spirits,  a  great  deal  of  the 
same  feeling  seems  to  have  prevailed.  The  citizen  who 
is  to  pay  the  tax  seems  scarcely  regarded  as  a  co-operative 
integer  in  his  country's  government,  but  rather  as  one 
who  intends  dishonesty  from  the  start,  and  who  is  not 
simply  called  upon  to  pay  tribute  as  one  of  the  class  se 
lected  for  taxation,  but  who  is  to  perform  his  duty  to  the 
government  under  a  certain  sentiment  of  reprobation  and 
puritanic  feeling  which  persists  in  giving  him  high  moral 
lessons,  while  at  the  same  time  it  takes  the  largest  sum  of 
money  possible  out  of  his  pocket. 

"  I  believe  in  laying  wise  taxes,  adjusting  them,  as  far 


216  LIi'E   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

as  justice  to  all  classes  will  permit,  upon  such  commodities 
as  universal  use,  universal  production,  will  lead  you  to 
believe  will  bring  you  tlie  greatest  revenue  with  the  least 
individual  or  class  oppression  and  discomfort ;  and  every 
where  and  in  every  way  that  I  could  secure  the  co-opera 
tion  of  the  tax-payer  in  the  full  payment  of  the  revenue, 
I  should  feel  that  I  was  achieving  a  great  success  in  the 
painful  art  of  taxation." 

In  the  sentence  we  have  just  quoted  there  is,  perhaps, 
a  more  statesmanlike  statement  of  the  fundamental  prin 
ciples  of  sound  and  reasonable  revenue  taxation  than  can 
be  found  anywhere  else  in  as  few  words.  To  lay  the 
tax  upon  "  articles  of  universal  use  and  universal  produc 
tion,"  so  that  the  burden  may,  as  quickly  as  possible,  be 
distributed  as  equally  as  possible — there  is  the  sound  po 
litical  economy  of  the  subject.  To  obtain  the  willing 
co-operation  of  the  tax-payer — there  are  the  true  ethics  of 
the  subject. 

The  practice  that  has  prevailed  has  been  a  compound 
of  the  "  Donny brook  fair  "  principle — "  wherever  you  see 
a  thing,  tax  it,"  regardless  whether  it  can  bear  taxation, 
or  will  yield  any  revenue  worth  the  trouble — and  of  a 
mixture  of  short-sighted  selfishness  and  silly  sentimen 
tality,  that  selected  some  articles  for  pampering,  and 
others  for  vindictive  prosecution,  the  result  of  which,  as 
was  said  before,  was  to  combine  the  greatest  amount  of 
inequality,  oppression,  and  irritation,  the  strongest  temp 
tation  to  break  the  law,  and  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
enforcing  it,  with  the  least  proportionate  gain  to  the 
revenue.* 

*  At  the  time  when  the  preposterous  Morrill  tariff,  with  its  encyclopaedic 
lists  of  dutiable  articles,  was  crippling  business  here,  the  whole  customs 
revenue  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  was  raised  on  nine  commodities,  and 


ECONOMY  AND   REFORM  IN   GOVERNMENT.  217 

But,  while  dealing  with  practical  questions  in  a  prac 
tical  way,  he  did  not  ignore  that  broader  philosophy  which 
should  form  the  foundation  of  all  sound  political  economy. 
To  check  extravagance,  to  spend  with  wisdom,  to  distri 
bute  equally  the  public  burdens,  these  were  the  applica 
tions  of  a  science,  the  basis  of  which  he  has  given  in  an 
address  to  a  body  of  young  men  just  entering  into  active 
life.*  After  adverting  to  the  war  and  its  result,  he  con 
tinues  : 

u  When  I  refer  to  the  past,  it  is  not  idly  to  mourn  over 
it  and  the  changes  wrought  in  so  much  we  held  m  close 
affection  and  just  value,  but  here  to  aver  my  belief  that, 
whatever  may  be  the  present  condition  of  our  govern 
ment,  its  forces  and  tendencies,  we  of  this  day  have  our 
only  hope  for  that  happiness,  individual  and  national,  that 
security  to  person  and  property,  that  social,  political,  and 
religious  freedom  which  were  the  objects  for  which  our 
forefathers  instituted  this  government,  in  the  revival  and 
constant  exercise  of  the  simple  virtues  practiced  by  the 
founders  of  the  republic,  which  the  growth  of  wealth  and 
luxury,  and  a  period  of  civil  war,  with  its  necessary  accom 
paniment  of  public  demoralization,  have  done  so  much  to 
lessen  in  public  as  well  as  private  use. 

"  The  men  of  our  first  Revolution  were  truthful,  honest, 
constant,  frugal,  industrious,  and  brave.  Adversity  had 
been  their  nurse,  and  these  virtues  were  the  rugged  texts 
of  her  instruction.  When  they  came  to  lay  the  founda 
tions  of  a  government,  they  naturally  based  their  organic 
laws  on  these  principles,  so  that  they  became  its  motive 
power,  the  inspiring  sentiment  of  the  entire  scheme. 

the  entire  list,  with  the  scale  of  duties  and  accruing  revenue,  was  printed  on 
a  card  the  size  of  an  ordinary  visiting-card. 

*  Speech  before  the  Literary  Societies  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  July 
2,  1873. 


248  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

"  Throughout  the  written  charter  of  carefully  enumer 
ated  and  limited  powers,  with  which  they  intrusted  their 
official  rulers  and  representatives,  everywhere  are  to  be 
found  evidences  of  this.  It  was  because  they  were  pos 
sessed  of  the  virtues  I  have  named  that  they  founded  the 
government  they  did.  It  was  the  natural  result  of  such 
possession.  The  government  was  designed  for  a  people 
like  themselves  ;  it  was  totally  unfit  for  a  people  unlike 
them.  And  we  may  be  sure  that  attempts  to  engraft 
upon  it  a  government  having  a  different  class  of  ideas 
and  principles  for  its  basis  can  be  but  the  commencement 
of  a  career  of  loss  and  sorrow,  with  certain  failure  as  the 
final  result. 

"  If  the  federal  Constitution  should  have  been  so  in 
vaded  and  overthrown  that  it  shall  never  again  be  restored 
in  the  beauty  and  beneficence  in  which  the  eyes  of  our 
fathers  beheld  it,  it  has  been  because  "the  virtues  which 
gave  it  birth  have  fallen  into  disuse,  and  the  hands  and 
brains  which  have  destroyed  it  have  been  those  of  men 
whose  hatred  was  stronger  than  their  love  of  justice, 
whose  love  of  gain  overcame  their  love  of  truth,  and 
whose  fear  of  local  and  temporary  discontent  overcame 
the  courage  necessary  to  enable  them  to  stand  by  their 
duty." 

And  after  adverting  to  abuses  such  as  we  have  already 
touched  upon,  and  showing  how  fraud,  falsehood,  and  the 
palliation  of  wrong-doing  were  corrupting  the  morals  of 
public  life,  he  lays  his  finger  upon  the  very  heart  of  the 
evil,  and  points  out  the  remedy : 

"  Properly  considered,  no  one  virtue  is  more  absolutely 
and  practically  necessary  in  human  society  than  simple 
truth,  the  essential  basis  of  that  good  faith  upon  the  pres 
ervation  of  which  the  honor  of  men  and  of  nations  alone 


ECONOMY   AND   REFORM   IN   GOVERNMENT.  249 

can  safely  depend.  Surely  no  social  crime  is  more  dan 
gerous  than  a  lie,  and  the  man  who  utters  it,  or  palters 
with  the  truth,  should  be  considered  a  public  enemy,  un 
worthy  of  any  post  of  honor  or  profit.  SIMPLE  TRUTH  is 
an  essential,  a  prime  necessity,  in  human  intercourse.  The 
safety  of  nations  as  well  as  of  individuals  requires  its  close 
observance.  Truth  in  the  historian,  truth  in  the  ruler  and 
legislator,  truth  in  the  manifold  affairs  of  men  in  public 
or  private  life — this  is  the  keystone ;  strike  it  from  the 
arch,  and  the  greatest  edifice  of  man's  toil  and  skill  and 
ambition  tumbles  to  certain  and  deserved  ruin.  We  need 
everywhere  the  MAX  'who  speaketh  the  truth  in  his 
heart.  .  .  .  Who  sweareth  to  his  own  hurt  and  changeth 
not.' .  .  . 

"  All  public  laws  that  lead  to  or  tend  in  any  way  to 
the  commission  of  falsehood  should  meet  disapproval. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  whole  system  of  political  test 
oaths,  the  inventions  of  a  dark,  distant,  and  deluded  pe 
riod  of  government,  unhappily  revived  of  late  years  in 
this  country.  Does  any  man  doubt  that  they  were  pro 
ductive  only  of  weak  and  mean  falsehood,  and  of  the 
exclusion  and  injury  of  men  whose  conscience  and  per 
sonal  honor  wrould  have  afforded  the  most  certain  and 
cheapest  protection  to  the  government  that  sought  it? 
Slowly  sensible  of  the  demoralizing  effects  of  arraying 
self-interest  against  truth,  propositions  were  made  at  the 
last  session  of  Congress  for  the  abolition  of  the  entire 
system  of  custom-house  oaths,  and  the  substitution  of 
declarations  made  on  honor.  Experience  had  amply 
shown  that  custom-house  oaths,  under  the  present  system 
of  excessive  tariff  duties,  were  almost  universally  held, 
however  solemn  in  their  form,  to  have  no  binding  effect, 

'  O  7 

and  to  be  of  no  protection  to  the  government  which  ex- 


250  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 

acted  them.  And  I  am  warranted  in  saying  that  no  pro 
secution  for  such  frequent  perjury  has  yet  been  recorded. 
Might  it  not  be  suggested  that  men  should  not  thus  be 
tempted  to  commit  wrong,  and  that  wise  rulers  should  so 
frame  their  laws  as  to  make  the  inducements  to  deceive 
as  slight  as  possible  ?  Wise  recognition  of  and  condes 
cension  to  the  frailties  of  humanity  are  surely  important 
elements  in  legislative  judgment." 

Happy  would  it  have  been  for  this  country  if  its 
rulers  and  legislators  of  late  years  had  heard  and  heeded 
in  their  youth  such  admonitions  as  these  ;  happier  still  if 
their  counsels  had  been  guided  by  such  clear-sighted  wis 
dom,  broad  love  of  country,  and  simple  integrity  as  were 
his  who  uttered  them. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    ELECTORAL    COMMISSION. 

THE  session  of  Congress  from  December,  1876,  to 
March,  18T7,  was  one  of  the  most  exciting  and  deeply 
important  in  the  annals  of  our  government.  It  was  truly 
a  u  time  that  tried  men's  souls,"  as  much  as  they  were 
tried  in  1770.  It  is  to  the  steadfast  moral  courage  of  cer 
tain  of  the  Democratic  leaders  in  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress  that  the  honor  is  due  of  preventing  the  United 
States  from  being  converted  from  a  government  of  laws 
into  a  government  of  force. 

Mr.  Bayard  was  a  conspicuous  and  important  actor  in 
those  scenes.  Certain  ill-advised  and  unscrupulous  per 
sons  have  made  the  attempt  to  misstate  history,  mislead 
the  public  mind,  and  create  unworthy  prejudice  by  sug 
gesting  that  in  some  way,  not  distinctly  stated,  the  coun 
sel  and  desires  of  Mr.  Tilden  were  not  heeded  in  creating 
the  Electoral  Commission,  and  that  he  and  his  more  inti 
mate  friends  were  not  in  accord  with  the  efforts  which 
produced  the  law  for  it.  The  contrary  is  the  fact. 

The  history  of  the  Electoral  Commission  has  yet  to  be 
written,  and  the  historian  in  the  next  generation  who  un 
dertakes  it  will  be  embarrassed  by  the  circumstance  that 
a  vital  portion  of  the  crude  material  for  his  narrative  is 
in  cipher.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  it  is  eminently 
due  to  Mr.  Bayard  that  some  of  the  facts  bearing  upon 


252  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

liis  part  in  that  great  drama  should  be  set  out  in  the  pub 
lic  view.  It  is  believed  that  a  portion  of  these  facts  are 
not  as  well  known  as  they  should  be,  and  that  those  which 
are  known  have  been  warped,  garbled,  and  distorted  very 
much  out  of  their  actual  semblance. 

Mr.  Bayard  cordially  endorsed  the  nomination  of  Til- 
den  and  Hendricks,  and  threw  himself  into  the  canvass 
that  ensued  with  an  ardor  which  threatened  seriously  to 
impair  his  health.  "  I  made  a  hole  in  my  lungs  in  that 
campaign,"  he  has  been  heard  to  say,  "  which  it  took  me 
eighteen  months  to  patch  up."  He  spoke  throughout  the 
canvass,  in  a  great  many  different  places,  from  the  first 
ratification  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  at  Horticultural  Hall, 
to  the  last  speeches  in  Baltimore  and  Princess  Anne, 
Maryland,  on  the  eve  of  election.*  There  is  evidence  that 
Mr.  Tilden  knew  how  to  value  and  to  appreciate  such  de 
voted  services.  June  30,  1876,  Mr.  Bayard  had  tele 
graphed  to  him  from  Washington  as  follows :  "  I  take 
the  first  hour  since  my  return  from  Mississippi  to  assure 
you  that  my  fervent  support  will  not  be  wanting  to  elect 
you  to  the  presidency,  where  your  services  are  so  much 
needed  by  the  American  people,"  and  Mr.  Tilden  replied 
at  once  and  the  same  day  :  "  Cordial  thanks  for  your  tele 
gram.  You  already  know  you  have  my  highest  apprecia 
tion  and  full  confidence" 

The  election  took  place  duly  on  November  7,  1876. 
Tilden  and  Hendricks  were  elected  by  a  majority  of  the 
popular  vote,  and  by  a  majority  of  all  the  electoral  votes. 
But  the  Republicans  were  in  power  at  Washington,  and 
they  had  Grant  there  intrenched.  Chandler,  chairman 

*  To  vast  audiences  in  Brooklyn  and  New  York  city,  in  Trenton  and 
Ni-wark,  New  Jersey ;  in  Chicago,  Indianapolis,  Tcrre  Haute,  and  a  dozen 
other  places  in  Indiana. 


THE  ELECTORAL  COMMISSION.  253 

of  the  Republican  committee,  had  "  returned  "  Hayes 
and  Wheeler  elected,  and  he  would  not  suffer  any  one  to 
go  behind  his  returns.  The  Republicans  determined  to 
"  hold  the  fort/'  They  had  all  the  machinery  necessary 
to  enable  them  to  do  it.  They  had  the  President  and 
Cabinet,  the  Senate,  the  army  and  navy,  and  the  treasury. 
They  had  100,000  office-holders  at  their  beck  and  nod,  so 
long  as  "hold  fast"  was  the  avowed  policy.  They  had 
anv  number  of  "  visiting  statesmen,"  sensational  ready- 
writers,  and  Eliza  Pinkstons  at  their  disposal.  More 
than  all,  they  owned,  body  and  soul,  the  returning-boards 
in  the  disputed  States,  and  Mr.  Chandler  felt  confident  of 
being  able  to  dictate,  from  his  head-quarters  in  Washing 
ton,  the  operations  of  these  notorious  organizations  for 
giving  the  semblance  of  legality  to  wholesale  fraud.  The 
"  outrage  mill  "  had  still  some  grist  left  for  grinding  over, 
and  then  and  there  were  American  politics  and  the  Amer 
ican  vocabulary  enriched  with  the  word  "  bulldozing." 

The  Democrats  blustered  and  threatened,  but  were  in 
sad  lack  of  guidance.  The  "  literary  bureau  "  in  New 
York  had  ceased  its  labors  with  the  day  of  election.  The 
voice  of  command  in  Gramercy  Park  had  sunk  into  a 
whisper.  All  the  time  that  the  Republicans  were  organ 
izing,  drilling,  arranging,  dominating,  controlling  the 
wires  and  the  press,  the  Democratic  leaders  seemed  to  be 
doing  nothing  except  more  and  more  relaxing  their  grip. 
There  was  no  organization,  no  defiance.  The  conscious 
ness  of  a  righteous  cause  seemed  to  give  no  strength,  no 
backbone  to  its  adherents.  The  bigness  of  the  prize  they 
had  won  appalled  them,  and  they  let  it  roll  away  out  of 
their  reach,  as  babies  sometimes  will  do  with  their  big 
apples.  In  all  this  time  really  nothing  was  done  except 
to  gather  some  conclusive  evidence,  which  could  not  be 


254  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

used  when  it  was  needed,  and  is  worthless  now  because  of 
subsequent  revelations.  If  anything  was  said,  it  was  said 
in  the  language  of  cryptograms.  The  great  Democratic 
party,  winning  its  first  success  since  1856,  stood  dumb  as 
a  stock-fish  while  the  prize  was  filched  away.  The  paraly 
sis  at  the  top  seemed  to  have  invaded  all  its  members. 
We  remember  but  one  production  of  that  painful  and 
astonishing  interval  which  seemed  to  emanate  from  a 
Democratic  source,  and  this  was  a  reference  book,  giving 
an  historical  review  of  how  Congresses  in  the  past  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  counting  the  electoral  vote.  This 
excellent  handy  volume  was  published  by  the  Appletons,* 
and  it  wras  whispered  about  that  the  publication  had  Mr. 
Tilden's  sanction. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  doubt  and  uncertainty,  Con 
gress  met  in  December.  The  Democratic  members  in 
stantly  discovered  that  if  they  wanted  guidance  in  such  a 
dire  emergency  they  would  have  to  supply  it  themselves. 
They  had  elected  a  president,  but  they  had  missed  to 
supply  their  party  with  a  general.  By  this  time  even 
the  whispers  from  New  York  had  become  inaudible. 

Yet  something  must  be  done,  and  done  promptly. 
For  the  Democratic  senators  and  representatives  found 
that  there  was  at  Washington  a  party  still  in  control  and 
power,  which  was  elaborately  preparing  to  resist  and 
overcome  the  outbreaks  and  disturbances  which  they 
hoped  would  be  provoked  by  the  uncertainties  of  the 
times.  It  is  simply  God's  mercy  to  this  republic  that  the 
railroad  and  labor  riots  of  1877  did  not  break  out  sooner 
and  in  connection  with  the  unsettled  presidential  election 
of  1876.  Had  that  happened,  it  is  not  likely  there  would 
be  any  third-term  agitation  to-day.  We  repeat  it,  Grant 

*  But  not  until  January,  1877. 


THE  ELECTORAL   COMMISSION. 

was  prepared  in  1876-'77  to  meet  and  put  down  a  "  Demo 
cratic  rebellion "  on  account  of  the  disputed  succession, 
and  he  looked  for  such  a  state  of  affairs  as  would  compel 
him  to  "  hold  over."  The  real  question,  in  case  of  a  non- 
settlement  of  the  presidential  controversy,  in  other  words, 
was  not  between  Tilden  and  Hayes,  but  between  the  re 
public  and  Grant. 

Senators  and  representatives  knew  this  state  of  affairs, 
and  in  both  parties  they  dreaded  results.  There  were 
plenty  of  people  who  favored  the  idea  of  Grant's  holding 
over,  the  more  especially  as  Hayes  was  understood  (by 
those  who  maligned  him  to  his  political  associates)  to  be 
a  reformer.  Mr.  Bayard  confesses  that  he  and  all  his 
friends  were  filled  with  apprehension  at  what  they  saw 
and  heard  and  knew.  It  was  not  the  bluster  of  Chandler 
and  his  committee  men  which  appalled  them,  nor  the 
snuffles  and  whines  of  the  visiting  statesmen,  nor  the 
purse-panic  of  capitalists  and  money-lenders  in  the  great 
cities.  It  was  the  silence,  the  secrecy,  the  thoroughness 
of  the  military  preparations  at  the  White  House  and  in 
the  departments.  There  was  more  than  intimidation  or 
necessary  precaution  in  these.  A  battalion  of  artillery 
was  called  in  from  one  point,  but  only  the  arrival  of  a  sec- 
tioij  of  a  battery  was  announced.  When  a  regiment  came, 
only  a  company  was  announced.  When  a  brigade  was 
assembled,  no  more  than  a  regiment  was  officially  stated 
to  be  present.  Before  the  day  came  for  the  meeting  of 
the  two  houses  in  joint  convention,  more  than  half  the 
entire  army  of  the  United  States  was  collected  in  Wash 
ington.  It  was  openly  boasted  that  they  were  present 
here  to  do  in  the  House  of  Representatives  what  they 
had  already  done  in  Louisiana,  nor  was  the  boast  an  idle 
one. 


256  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

At  least  something  must  be  done  in  such  an  emer 
gency,  since  nothing  could  be  gained,  while  everything 
might  be  lost,  by  drifting  on  a  helmless  way.  It  is  a  fal 
lacy  to  say  that  nothing  need  have  been  done ;  that  the 
House  of  Kepresentatives  had  all  the  necessary  powers, 
and  could  have  proceeded  to  elect  a  president  according 
to  the  forms  of  the  Constitution.  What  would  really  have 
happened  would  have  been  this  :  the  Republican  Senate 
and  the  Democratic  House  would  have  disagreed  as  soon 
as  the  vote  of  Florida  came  to  be  counted ;  the  Senate 
would  have  retired  to  its  own  chamber,  and  would  have 
been  followed  there  by  the  Republican  members  of  the 
House,  leaving  the  Hall  of  Representatives  to  the  Demo 
cratic  "  rump  "  and  the  "  Confederate  brigadiers."  Til- 
den  and  Hayes  would  both  have  been  declared  president, 
and  we  should  have  had  a  disputed  and  divided  succession, 
with  the  purse  and  the  sword  and  the  bench  and  all  the 
machinery  and  property  of  government  in  the  hands 
of  the  usurper.  What  then '?  Would  Mr.  Tilden  have 
resisted,  and  demanded  and  asserted  his  rights  ?  The  re 
sult  would  have  been  civil  war.  If  he  had  not  done  so 
(and  few  who  know  Mr.  Tilden  believe  that  he  would), 
we  should  stand  pretty  much  wherp  we  now  are,  except 
that  Mr.  Hayes,  while  practically  president,  would  have 
no  color  of  valid  title  to  his  office.  Such  a  situation  would 
unquestionably  have  intensified,  in  a  very  serious  degree, 
the  condition  of  affairs  during  the  railroad  riots  of  18TT. 
The  very  contemplation  of  such  a  situation,  however,  was 
intolerable  to  every  patriotic  member  of  Congress,  and  a 
means  of  preventing  it  was  sought  with  zeal  and  earnest 
ness.  The  result  of  these  endeavors  was  the  Electoral 
Commission.  The  deliberations  of  that  body  did  not,  in 
deed,  secure  the  presidency  to  the  man  who  was  really 


THE  ELECTORAL  COMMISSION. 

elected,  but  they  secured  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  re 
public,  and  vindicated,  in  a  signal  manner,  the  capacity 
of  the  American  people  for  self-government  under  the 
most  trying  circumstances. 

It  is  to  be  added  that  the  system  for  counting  the 
electoral  votes  was  so  imperfect,  and  led  to  so  many  grave 
and  perilous  difficulties  in  1865  and  1873,  that  Kepub- 
licans  and  Democrats  united  in  seeing  the  necessity  for 
improvements ;  the  difficulty  being  that  nobody's  plan 
for  amendment  was  quite  acceptable,  each  side  seeming 
to  mistrust  the  other,  and  to  suspect  a  "  Trojan  horse  "  in 
propositions  emanating  from  it.  In  this  way,  while  many 
bills  for  counting  the  electoral  vote  were  introduced  into 
Senate  and  House,  none  succeeded  in  getting  the  ap 
proval  of  a  majority.  The  adjustment  of  this  delicate 
matter  had  been  advocated  by  Senator  Morton,  of  Indiana, 
during  several  sessions,  but  without  success.  He  had 
secured  the  reference  of  the  subject  to  a  special  commit 
tee,  of  which  he  was  chairman,  but  even  the  committee 
would  not  agree  as  to  what  they  should  recommend.  Mr. 
Bayard  was  fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  taking  steps 
to  obtain  relief,  and  on  January  19,  1876,  he  introduced 
a  resolution  in  the  following  words  : 

•"  Resolved  ly  the  Senate  (the  House  of  Representative  concurring), 
That  the  Committee  on  Rules  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  instructed  to  examine,  and,  after 
conference,  to  report,  what  amendments,  if  any,  should  be  made  in 
the  present  joint  rules  of  the  two  houses ;  and  also  whether  any, 
and  what,  legislation  is  expedient  in  regard  to  the  matters  considered 
in  the  present  twenty-second  joint  rule." 

On  the  25th  of  January,  he  endeavored  to  have  it 
considered  in  the  Senate,  but  was  thwarted  by  the  action 
of  Frelinghuysen,  Conkling,  Hamlin,  and  Morton.  In 


258  I<IFE   OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

earnest  language  lie  besought  the  Senate  to  adopt  some 
plan  by  which  the  result  of  the  coming  presidential  elec 
tion  should  be  honestly  ascertained  and  faithfully  accept 
ed.  He  said : 

"  I  will  merely  say  that  there  is  no  time  more  favor 
able  for  the  discussion  of  this  rule  than  the  present. 
There  has  been  no  time  for  the  last  twelve  years  when 
the  discussion  of  the  subjects  embraced  by  the  twenty- 
second  joint  rule  could  be  more  favorably  had  than  the 
present.  There  are  few  subjects  of  more  critical  interest 
to  be  settled  rightfully  than  the  matters  .embraced  by 
that  rule,  and  I  think  the  sooner  we  bring  it  to  the  calm 
consideration  of  the  Committee  on  Rules  of  the  two 
houses,  the  better  for  us  all,  and  the  better  for  the  coun 
try.  The  longer  this  is  delayed,  the  nearer  we  drift  to 
one  of  those  periodical  contests  under  our  form  of  gov 
ernment  ;  and,  the  sooner  we  settle  in  a  calm,  high  spirit 
these  questions  which  may  involve  great  differences  of 
opinion  and  interest,  the  better  for  us  all. 

"  In  view  of  the  suggestion  of  the  Senator  from  Xew 
Jersey,  I  shall  not  press  the  consideration  of  this  resolu 
tion  in  the  absence  of  the  Senator  from  Yermont,  al 
though  my  impression  is  quite  distinct  that  the  Senator 
from  Yermont  concurred  in  the  resolution  as  I  presented 
it.  The  Senator  from  New  York  asked  that  it  might  lie 
over,  and  it  was  at  his  request  continued.  I  meant  to 
bring  it  up,  and  I  shall  bring  it  up  again,  when  it  is  the 
pleasure  of  the  Senate  to  consider  it.  I  think  it  impor 
tant  that  it  should  be  settled  as  speedily  as  possible,  if  it 
can  be.  If  the  two  houses  can  be  brought  to  agreement 
on  this  subject  with  the  present  condition  of  party  mat 
ters  between  the  two  houses,  I  think  it  will  be  a  guaran 
tee  that  the  result  will  be  satisfactory  to  the  people  of  the 


THE  ELECTORAL  COMMISSION.  259 

country.  Kot  only  is  it  important  to  us  that  the  election 
should  take  place  with  all  proper  guards,  but  the  great 
matter  is  that,  after  it  is  over,  all  the  people  should  come 
together  as  one  people  to  support  whoever  may  be  the 
persons  chosen  by  the  majority." 

But  Mr.  Bayard  was  unassisted  by  his  own  side  of  the 
Senate,  and  obstructed  by  the  other,  and  no  action  was 
ever  taken  on  his  proposition.  The  Republican  majority 
were  unwilling  to  commit  themselves  to  any  but  their 
own  partisan  plans. 

But  time  passed ;  the  election  had  been  held ;  and  now 
Congress  felt  compelled  to  do  something,  face  to  face  as 
they  were  with  a  vital  issue  that  admitted  of  no  delay. 
A  joint  committee  of  seven  senators  and  seven  represen 
tatives  was  proposed,  with  instructions  to  prepare  without 
delay  such  a  measure,  either  legislative  or  constitutional, 
as  might  be  best  calculated  to  count  the  vote  authorita 
tively,  and  declare  the  result  by  a  tribunal  whose  decision 
would  be  generally  accepted  as  final.  The  proposition 
came  from  the  House  ;  it  was  accepted  by  the  Senate,  the 
joint  committee  was  appointed;  it  matured  and  reported 
the  bill  for  counting  the  vote  by  the  Electoral  Commis 
sion.  The  bill  was  accepted  by  both  houses  by  an  over 
whelming  majority,  and  the  machinery  was  thus  at  last  pro 
vided  for  escaping  a  revolution  or  a  disputed  succession. 

During  the  preparation  of  the  measure  the  sessions  of 
the  committee  were  secret,  and  the  plans  of  the  House 
committee  and  those  of  the  Senate  committee  had  been 
separately  matured.  The  joint  committee  then  met  for 
the  first  time,  and  the  two  communicated  to  each  other 
the  several  plans  they  had  respectively  prepared.  From 
the  mingled  features  of  these  plans  the  Electoral  Commis 
sion  bill  was  framed. 
12 


960  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

Mr.  Hewitt,  of  New  York  city,  was  a  member  of  the 
committee,  and  gave  Mr.  Tilden  instant  and  full  informa 
tion  of  the  proposed  plan  of  the  joint  committee,  as  he 
had  previously  of  the  action  of  the  committee  on  the  part 
of  the  House.  Mr.  Hewitt  had  been  selected  on  Mr.  Til- 
den's  nomination  as  chairman  of  the  National  Democratic 
Committee,  and  had  zealously  conducted  the  politic;,! 
campaign  under  the  personal  supervision  and  advice  of 
Mr.  Tilden  himself.  Thus,  throughout  the  whole  pro 
ceeding,  Mr.  Tilden's  able  and  trusted  lieutenant,  knowi 
to  be  in  his  closest  confidence,  was  in  hearty  co-operatio  i 
with  his  Democratic  associates  and  constant  communica 
tion  with  their  chief.  The  report  that  accompanied  the 
bill  was  signed  by  every  one  of  the  fourteen  member.;, 
excepting  Oliver  P.  Morton,  who  refused.  Those  men.- 
bers  of  the  Senate  and  House  who  wrere  known  to  hold  the 
closest  and  most  confidential  relations  to  Mr.  Tilden  were 
open  and  earnest  advocates  of  the  measure  at  every  stage;. 
In  the  House,  conspicuous  were  David  Dudley  Field  an  1 
Hewitt,  of  New  York ;  Randall,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Spring 
er,  of  Illinois ;  Waterson,  of  Kentucky ;  and  Money,  of 
Mississippi.  In  the  Senate,  Barnum,  of  Connecticut,  and 
Kernan,  of  New  York  (who  subsequently  became  a  men  - 
ber  of  the  Electoral  Commission).  The  same  spirit  whic  i 
had  allowed  the  minority  party  in  each  house  to  elect  its 
representatives  in  the  joint  committee  prevailed  in  bot.i 
houses  in  election  of  members  of  the  Electoral  Commis 
sion.  But  how  marked  the  contrast  between  the  actio  i 
of  the  two  parties!  The  Democrats,  in  a  spirit  of  goo  1 
faith,  selected  known  friends  of  the  measure  to  carry 
it  into  execution;  but  the  Republicans  placed  Mortal 
and  Garfield  upon  the  Commission,  knowing  they  had 
bitterly  denounced  and  opposed  the  passage  of  the  act ; 


THE  ELECTORAL   COMMISSION.  261 

had  denied  in  debate  its  constitutional  warrant,  and  yet 
took  an  oath  to  execute  it.  By  such  selections  the  honest 
execution  of  the  law  was  prevented  by  the  Republican 
majority  in  the  Senate,  and  the  honorable  settlement  it 
IKK  I  been  ordained  to  procure  was  shamefully  defeated. 
It  is  also  true  that,  in  December,  1876,  before  the  com 
mittee  had  taken  any  action,  Mr.  Bayard,  in  compliance 
with  the  request  of  Mr.  Tilden,  had  gone  to  New  York, 
to  receive  his  counsel  and  instruction.  He  spent  an 
entire  evening  with  Mr.  Tilden,  by  appointment,  at  the 
house  of  a  mutual  friend,  and  the  following  day,  accom 
panied  by  Mr.  Lamar,  of  Mississippi,  went  to  again  see 
Mr.  Tilden  at  his  house,  and  held  an  interview,  lasting 
four  hours,  in  the  effort  to  ascertain  his  views  and  wishes, 
or,  as  Mr.  Bayard  himself  once  phrased  it,  "  to  sit  at  his 
feet  and  gather  his  instruction"  Mr.  Tilden,  however, 
gave  no  intimation  whatever  of  his  intentions,  nor  any 
light  upon  the  grave  subjects  under  consideration.  The 
compilation  of  congressional  precedent,  then  in  course  of 
preparation  by  Mr.  Bigelow,  was  exhibited  and  referred 
to,  but  no  plan  of  action  was  indicated,  and  the  two  gen 
tlemen  returned  to  Washington  uninformed  and  unin- 
structed  by  their  party  chieftain  of  his  intended  action, 
and  from  that  time  forth  were  left  to  their  own  resources 
and  responsibilities,  to  meet  the  grave  emergency  whose 
shadow  covered  the  whole  land. 

Mr.  Bayard  did  not  intend  this  country  should  be 
'•  Mexicanized,"  but  addressed  all  his  energies  to  the 
preparation  of  a  remedy  in  the  form  of  law,  which  should 
vindicate  the  results  of  popular  election,  preserve  the 
faith  of  our  people  in  their  government,  and  keep  the 
country  from  falling  into  such  a  condition  of  confusion 
as  would  give  a  pretext  to  the  military  conspirators  to 


262  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

seize  the  reins  of  power,  and  leave  us  not  a  vestige  of 
civil  and  constitutional  liberty.  The  electoral  bill  passed 
the  Senate  on  January  24,  1877,  by  a  vote  of  47  to  IT. 
Every  Democrat  in  the  Senate  voted  for  the  measure, 
with  a  single  exception,  in  which  a  want  of  constitutional 
power  was  stated  as  the  reason.  In  opposition  weie 
found  the  crew  of  carpet-baggers — Dorsey,  Clayton,  Pat 
terson,  Bruce,  Hamilton,  Conover,  and  West — combining 
with  Morton,  Sargent,  and  Elaine — the  most  "  stalwart  " 
of  the  radicals.  It  passed  the  House  of  Representative 3, 
then  strongly  Democratic,  by  a  vote  of  191  to  86,  and  in 
this  minority  were  found  but  18  Democratic  votes.* 

Mr.  Hendricks,  the  Vice-President  elect,  had  at  once, 
upon  the  bill  being  reported,  made  public  expression  of 
his  gratification  and  of  his  warm  approval  of  the  measure. 

The  report  accompanying  the  bill,  which  was  not 
drawrn  by  Mr.  Bayard,  though  it  was  amended  in  some 
details  at  his  suggestion,  embodied  a  very  strong  argument 
for  its  adoption.  It  said  : 

"  We  have  applied  the  utmost  practicable  study  and 
deliberation  to  the  subject,  and  believe  that  the  bill  no^v 
reported  is  the  best  attainable  disposition  of  the  difficult 
problems  and  disputed  theories  arising  out  of  the  lal  e 
election.  It  must  be  obvious  to  every  person  conversai.t 
with  the  history  of  the  country,  and  with  the  formation 
and  interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  that  a  wride  diver 
sity  of  views  and  opinions  touching  the  subject,  not  wholly' 
coincident  with  the  bias  or  wishes  of  the  members  of  po-j 
litical  parties,  would  naturally  exist.  We  have  in  this 
state  of  things  chosen,  therefore,  not  to  deal  with  abstract  j 
questions,  save  so  far  as  they  are  necessarily  involved  inj 

*  In  this  majority  were  included   all  the   Democratic  members  w(  11 
known  as  friends  to  Mr.  Tilden  and  his  election. 


THE  ELECTORAL   COMMISSION.  263 

the  legislation  proposed.  It  is,  of  course,  plain  that  the 
report  of  the  bill  implies  that  in  our  opinion  legislation 
may  be  had  on  the  subject  in  accordance  with  the*Con- 
stitution,  but  we  think  that  the  law  proposed  is  inconsis 
tent  with  few  of  the  principal  theories  upon  the  subject. 
The  Constitution  requires  that  the  electoral  votes  shall  be 
counted  on  a  particular  occasion.  All  will  agree  that  the 
votes  named  in  the  Constitution  are  the  constitutional 
votes  of  the  States,  and  not  other ;  and,  when  they  have 
been  found  and  identified,  there  is  nothing  left  to  be  dis 
puted  or  decided  :  all  the  rest  is  the  mere  clerical  work  of 
summing  up  the  numbers,  which  being  done,  the  Con 
stitution  itself  declares  the  consequence. 

"  This  bill,  then,  is  only  directed  to  ascertaining,  for 
the  purpose  and  in  aid  of  the  counting,  what  are  the  con 
stitutional  votes  of  the  respective  States ;  and,  whatever 
jurisdiction  exists  for  such  purpose,  the  bill  only  regulates 
the  method  of  exercising  it.  The  Constitution,  our  great 
instrument  and  security  for  liberty  and  order,  speaks  in 
the  amplest  language  for  all  such  cases,  in  whatever  aspect 
they  may  be  presented.  It  declares  that  the  Congress 
shall  have  power  l  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  neces 
sary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing 
powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this  Constitution 
in  the  government  of  the  United  States  or  in  any  depart 
ment  or  officer  thereof.'  The  committee  therefore  think 
that  the  law  proposed  can  not  be  justly  assailed  as  uncon 
stitutional  by  any  one,  and  for  this  reason  we  think  it  un 
necessary,  whatever  may  be  our  individual  views,  to  dis 
cuss  any  of  the  theories  referred  to.  Our  fidelity  to  the 
Constitution  is  observed  when  we  find  that  the  law  we 
recommend  is  consistent  with  that  instrument. 

"  The  matter,  then,  being  a  proper  subject  for  legisla- 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

tion,  the  fitness  of  the  means  proposed  becomes  the  next 
subject  for  consideration.  Upon  this  we  beg  leave  to 
submit  a  few  brief  observations. 

"  In  all  just  governments,  both  public   and  private 
rights  must  be  defined  and  determined  by  the  law.    Thi  i 
is  essential  to  the  very  idea  of  such  a  government,  and  i  * 
the  characteristic  distinction  between  free  and  despotic 
systems.     However  important  it  may  be,  whether  onu 
citizen  or  another  shall  be  the  Chief  Magistrate  for  a  pre 
scribed  period,  upon  just  theories  of  civil  institutions,  i: 
is  of  far  greater  moment  that  the  will  of  the  people,  law 
fully  expressed  in  the  choice  of  that  officer,  shall  be  as 
certained  and  carried  into  effect  in  a  lawful  way.     It  is 
true  that  in  every  operation  of   a  government  of  laws, 
from  the  most  trivial  to  the  most  important,  there  will 
always  be  the  possibility  that  the  result  reached  will  no-; 
be  the  true  one.     The  executive  officer  may  not  wisely 
perform  his  duty,  the  courts  may  not  truly  declare  the; 
law,  and  the  legislative  body  may  not  enact  the  best  laws  ; 
but,  in  either  case,  to  resist  the  act  of  the  executive,  the- 
courts,  or  the  legislature,  acting  constitutionally  and  law 
fully  within  their  sphere,  would  be  to  set  up  anarchy  ir 
the  place  of  government.    We  think,  then,  that  to  provide; 
a  clear  and  lawful  means  of  performing  a  great  and  neces 
sary  function  of  government,  in  a  time  of  much  public 
dispute,  is  of  far  greater  importance  than  the  particular 
advantage  that  any  man  or  party  may  in  the  course  of 
events  possibly  obtain.     But  we  have  still  endeavored  tc 
provide  such  lawful  agencies  of  decision  in  the  present 
case  as  shall  be  the  most  fair  and  impartial  possible  under 
the  circumstances.     Each  of  the  branches  of  the  legisla 
ture  and  the  judiciary  is  represented  in  the  tribunal  in 
equal  proportions.     The  composition  of  the  judicial  part 


THE  ELECTORAL  COMMISSION.  265 

of  the  Commission  looks  to  a  selection  from  different  parts 
of  the  republic,  while  it  is  thought  to  be  free  from  any 
preponderance  of  supposable  bias;  and  the  addition  of 
the  necessary  constituent  part  of  the  whole  Commission, 
in  order  to  obtain  an  uneven  number,  is  left  to  an  agency 
the  farthest  removed  from  prejudice  of  any  existing  at 
tainable  one.  If  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  we 
think,  to  establish  a  tribunal  that  could  be  less  the  sub 
ject  of  party  criticism  than  such  a  one.  The  principle  of 
its  constitution  is  so  absolutely  fair  that  we  are  unable  to 
perceive  how  the  most  extreme  partisan  can  assail  it,  un 
less  he  prefers  to  embark  his  wishes  upon  the  stormy  sea 
of  unregulated  procedure,  hot  disputes,  and  dangerous 
results,  that  can  neither  be  measured  nor  defined,  rather 
than  upon  the  fixed  and  regular  course  of  law  that  in 
sures  peace  and  the  order  of  society,  whatever  party  may 
be  disappointed  in  its  hopes." 

When  this  bill  came  up  for  discussion  in  the  Senate, 
Mr.  Bayard  advocated  it  in  one  of  his  best  and  most  ear 
nest  speeches,  delivered  Wednesday,  January  24,  1877. 
He  said :  "  There  is  for  every  man  in  a  matter  of  such 
importance  his  own  measure  of  responsibility,  and  that 
measure  I  desire  to  assume.  .  .  .  The  period  of  advo 
cacy  of  either  candidate  has  passed,  and  the  time  for* 
judgment  has  almost  come.  How  shall  we  who  propose 
to  make  laws  for  others  do  better  than  to  exhibit  our  own 
reverence  for  law,  and  set  the  example  here  of  subordina 
tion  to  the  spirit  of  law  ?  "  After  a  very  full  and  lucid 
discussion  of  the  bill,  Mr.  Bayard  concluded  with  the  fol 
lowing  peroration,  one  of  the  finest  which  ever  came 
even  from  his  lips  : 

••  Mr.  President,  in  the  course  of  my  duty  here  as  a 
representative  of  the  rights  of  others,  as  a  chosen  and 


266  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

sworn  public  servant,  I  feel  that  I  have  no  right  to  give 
my  individual  wishes,  prejudices,  interests,  undue  influ 
ence  over  mj  public  action.  To  do  so  would  be  to  com 
mit  a  breach  of  trust  in  the  powers  confided  to  me.  It 
is  true  I  was  chosen  a  senator  by  a  majority  only,  but  not 
for  a  majority  only.  I  was  chosen  ~by  a  party,  but  not 
for  a  party.  I  represent  all  the  good  people  of  the  State 
which  has  sent  me  here.  In  my  office  as  a  senator  I  recog 
nize  no  claim  upon  my  action  in  the  name  and  for  the 
sake  of  party.  The  oath  I  have  taken  is  to  support  the 
Constitution  of  my  country's  government,  not  the  fiat  of 
any  political  organization,  even  could  its  will  be  ascer 
tained.  In  sessions  preceding  the  present  I  have  adverted 
to  the  difficulty  attending  the  settlement  of  this  great 
question,  and  have  urgently  besought  action  in  advance 
at  a  time  when  the  measure  adopted  could  not  serve  to 
predicate  its  results  to  either  party.  My  failure  then 
gave  me  great  uneasiness,  and  filled  me  with  anxiety; 
and  yet  I  can  now  comprehend  the  wisdom  concealed  in 
my  disappointment,  for  in  the  very  emergency  of  this 
hour,  in  the  shadow  of  the  danger  that  has  drawn  so  nigh 
to  us,  has  been  begotten  in  the  hearts  of  American  sena 
tors  and  representatives  and  the  American  people  a  spirit 
worthy  of  the  occasion — born  to  meet  these  difficulties,  to 
cope  with  them,  and,  God  willing,  to  conquer  tlicm. 

11  Animated  by  this  spirit,  the  partisan  is  enlarged  into 
the  patriot.  Before  it  the  lines  of  party  sink  into  hazy 
obscurity ;  and  the  horizon  which  bounds  our  view  reaches 
on  every  side  to  the  uttermost  verge  of  the  great  repub 
lic.  It  is  a  spirit  that  exalts  humanity,  and,  imbued  with 
it,  the  souls  of  men  soar  into  the  pure  air  of  unselfish  de 
votion  to  the  public  welfare.  It  lighted  with  a  smile  the 
cheek  of  Curtius  as  he  rode  into  the  gulf ;  it  guided  the 


THE   ELECTORAL   COMMISSION'.  267 

hand  of  Aristides  as  he  sadly  wrote  upon  the  shell  the 
sentence  of  his  own  banishment ;  it  dwelt  in  the  frozen 
earthworks  of  Valley  Forge ;  and  from  time  to  time  it 
has  been  an  inmate  of  these  halls  of  legislation.  I  believe 
it  is  here  to-day,  and  that  the  present  measure  was  bocn 
under  its  influence." 

Mr.  Bayard's  remarks  in  the  course  of  the  deliberations 
of  the  tribunal  show  that,  no  matter  what  others  felt,  he 
considered  himself  a  judge  upon  a  very  supreme  bench. 
We  happen  to  know  something  about  Mr.  Bayard's  con 
ception  of  the  duties  of  a  judge.  In  1876,  at  a  meeting 
of  the  bar  of  Wilmington,  he  was  called  on  to  speak  of 
the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Edward  W.  Gilpin,  of  Dela 
ware.  "The  profession  of  the  law,"  said  Mr.  Bayard  on 
that  occasion,  "  is  elevating ;  its  business  is  to  mete  out 
justice  between  man  and  man.  It  requires  a  delicate  and 
sensitive  honor.  The  administration  of  justice  should  be 
controlled  by  upright  men,  having  a  high  sense  of  con 
scientious  responsibility,  always  recognizing  fairness  and 
fair  play  as  the  jewel  of  our  profession.  The  law  is 
grounded  upon  truth,  and  the  lawyer  is  the  professor  of 
that  truth.  In  it  he  is  bound  to  attain  his  right  position. 
Favor  can  not  make  or  break  him,  or  keep  him  down. 
The  position  of  judge .  requires  sound  sense  and  sound 
morality  ;  both  are  essential." 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  Mr.  Bayard  went  to  his  work 
on  the  Electoral  Commission.  In  speaking  of  the  Florida 
case,  he  said  :  "  I  can  only  say  that  while  I  feel  a  just  and 
natural  distrust  in  my  powers  to  deal  competently  with 
such  issues,  yet  I  am  at  least  conscious  that  I  approach 
the  duties  imposed  upon  me  by  the  oaths  I  have  taken, 
both  as  a  senator  of  the  United  States  and  a  member  of 
this  Commission,  in  a  spirit  deeply  solicitous  to  act  worthi- 


268  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

ly  in  my  place."  This  lie  did.  In  the  course  of  the  de 
bates  on  the  South  Carolina  case,  the  effort  was  made  by 
Senator  Frelinghuysen  to  accuse  Mr.  Bayard  of  inconsis 
tency  by  contrasting  his  line  of  argument  with  his  speech 
on  Morton's  bill  for  counting  the  electoral  vote  made  in 
the  Senate,  February  25,  1875.  "  I  am  very  glad,"  Mr. 
Bayard  retorted,  "  that  this  extract  from  my  former 
speech  has  been  thus  brought  to  my  attention,  because  I 
am  aware  that  it  has  been  furnished  before  now  to  mem 
bers  of  this  Commission,  although  I  will  not  suggest  that 
the  object  in  bringing  it  now  to  my  notice  is  to  impale 
me  upon  a  supposed  inconsistency  between  my  views  as 
expressed  in  1875  and  now.  To  the  doctrine,  however, 
contained  in  these  remarks  I  can  only  give  my  renewed 
approval  and  assent,  although  I  must  frankly  admit  that 
within  the  two  years  which  have  elapsed  I  have  had  a 
better  opportunity  for  the  study  and  attention  of  this 
subject  which  had  been  denied  me  then,  and  w^hich  has 
given  to  my  mind  information  and  light  not  obtained  be 
fore.  I  trust  the  time  will  never  come  when  I  shall  cling 
obstinately  to  an  error  which  can  only  grow  into  a  wrong 
by  becoming  willful,  nor  do  I  believe  that  I  shall  be 
found  to  lack  the  courage  to  retract  an  opinion  when  I 
am  convinced  that  it  is  erroneous." 

In  regard,  however,  to  the  subject  matter  of  the  issue 
attempted  to  be  made,  his  mind  was  perfectly  clear. 
"  Such  a  proposition  as  was  stated  by  me,"  he  said,  "  in 
the  debate  referred  to,  was  applicable  only  to  the  ad 
mitted  election  of  a  State.  The  presence  of  fraud  and  its 
effect  in  qualifying  every  proposition  was  not  then  con 
sidered.  The  most  solemn  judgments  and  decrees  of 
courts,  pardons  by  kings  and  rulers,  every  treaty  or 
compact  between  nations  or  individuals,  alike  lose  every 


THE   ELECTORAL   COMMISSION.  269 

quality  of  obligation  wlien  touched  by  fraud.  I  know  of 
no  human  contract  more  irrevocable  and  binding  upon 
the  parties  than  that  of  Christian  marriage,  in  which  civil 
and  religious  obligation  combine  to  secure  its  perform 
ance.  The  sanction  under  which  marriage  is  entered 
into  is  the  most  solemn  known  to  civilized  men  ;  yet  who 
ever  denied  that  the  tie  could  be  and  ought  to  be  dissolved 
upon  proof  of  fraud  by  one  of  the  parties  in  obtaining 
the  marriage  ?  Fraud  is  a  u?iiversal  solvent,  and  de 
stroys  whatever  it  touches,  and  it  ought  to  be  hunted  down 
and  crushed  whenever  possible,  in  order  to  protect  human 
society.  Every  proposition  as  to  legal  or  moral  obliga 
tion  must  be  considered  as  made  in  the  absence  of  fraud, 
because  fraud  admitted  as  an  element  displaces  all  the 
reasoning  which  guides  men  in  the  ordinary  conduct  of 
life  or  in  the  administration  of  human  laws  and  justice." 
This  admirable  doctrine  did  not  meet  with  as  much 
deference  from  the  tribunal  as  they  would  probably  pay 
to  it  now  if  their  work  was  to  do  over  again,  and  they 
were  aware  of  the  condemnation  with  which  their  per 
formance  has  been  met.  In  discussing  the  case  of  Loui 
siana,  Mr.  Bayard  showed  that  he  was  aware  of  the 
verdict  which  the  people  would  pronounce  should  the 
tribunal  decline  to  meet  the  real  equities  of  the  case 
before  them.  "I  have  felt  very  deeply,"  he  said,  "the 
necessity  of  not  only  deciding  this  case  according  to  law 
and  justice,  but  also  of  satisfying  the  moral  sense  of  our 
fellow  countrymen.  Montesquieu  has  told  us  that,  as 
honor  is  of  vital  essence  to  a  monarchy,  so  is  morality  to 
a  republic.  I  am  perfectly  aware  of  the  real  condition  of 
the  State  of  Louisiana.  I  am  aware  that  what  they  are 
pleased  to  term  l  the  rights  of  the  State  of  Louisiana ' 
have  been  most  loudly  proclaimed,  and  sought  to  be  pro- 


270  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

tected  in  argument  before  this  Commission,  against  the 
slightest  invasion,  by  many  who  view  with  complacency 
her  government  and  her  people  to-day  in  absolute  subjec 
tion  to  the  army  of  the  United  States  and  its  official  head. 
I  recognize  fully  the  abnormal  condition  of  affairs  that 
grew  out  of  and  has  succeeded  a  period  of  civil  war  and 
widespread  revolution.  I  have  had  no  object  so  near  to 
my  heart,  and  none  which  has  drawn  from  me  more  of 
my  energies,  than  the  restoration  of  all  parts  and  sections 
of  this  country  to  their  former  harmonious  and  normal 
relations  to  each  other  and  to  their  common  government. 
I  can  not  shut  my  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  disorder  and 
crime  of  all  grades  which  mark  the  history  of  the  last  few 
years  in  Louisiana,  and  yet  which  I  believe  have  been 
shockingly  and  shamelessly  exaggerated  for  political  pur 
poses,  have  been  chiefly,  almost  wholly,  the  result  of  the 
destruction  of  local  self-government  in  that  State  by  the 
constant  interference  of  federal  power,  invariably  in  favor 
of  that  one  of  the  political  parties  of  that  State  whose 
interest  it  has  thus  been  made  to  produce  disorder  in 
order  to  procure  that  armed  assistance  without  the  aid  of 
which  it  would  long  since  have  disappeared.  The  eyes  of 
the  American  people  must  not  be  closed  to  the  fact  that 
if  the  voting  material  of  a  community  is  corruptible,  it 
will  be  corrupted  ;  if  it  is^  purchasable,  it  will  be  bought ; 
if  ignorant,  it  will  be  deceived ;  and,  if  timid,  it  will  be 
intimidated.  If  elections  are  put  up  at  auction  by  placing 
their  control  in  vile  hands,  whom  will  you  blame  ?  Those 
who  have  created  such  an  order  of  things ;  surely  not 
those  who  seek  to  abolish  it.  On  the  one  hand,  you  see 
property  seeking  protection  from  plunder  in  the  garb  of 
law,  and  on  the  other,  plunderers  in  the  garb  of  law  offer 
ing  to  sell  their  official  powers ;  and  thus  property  seeks 


THE  ELECTORAL  COMMISSION.  271 

to  buy  immunity  from  plunder  by  bribing  men  in  office, 
or,  impoverished  and  despairing,  strikes  down  the  robbers 
with  fierce  blow." 

The  history  of  the  Electoral  Commission,  so  far  as 
Mr.  Bayard's  connection  with  it  is  concerned,  has  been 
presented  here  frankly  and  freely.  He  is  quite  willing  to 
be  judged  by  it  and  upon  it  before  the  American  people. 
He  can  hardly  lose  in  their  esteem  for  having  not  only 
acted  uprightly  himself,  but  assuming,  in  the  essential 
nobility  of  his  nature,  that  other  men  would  be  actuated 
by  the  same  motives  as  those  which  compelled  him  to  do 
what  he  did. 

His  feelings  are  well  portrayed  in  his  own  language, 
when  the  decision  of  the  tribunal  in  the  case  of  Louisiana 
was  ratified  by  the  Senate.  He  then  said: 

u  Mr.  President,  as  a  member  of  the  Electoral  Com 
mission,  I  have  given  all  that  I  could  give  of  earnest,  pa 
tient,  steady  labor  and  devotion  to  secure  the  just  execu 
tion  of  the  law  under  which  I  was  appointed.  I  could 
not  now,  even  if  I  would,  repeat  here  the  arguments  made 
by  me  during  the  consultations  of  the  Commission  in  op 
position  to  the  result  arrived  at  by  eight  of  my  associates. 
Hereafter,  those  debates  may  be  given  to  the  public.  My 
labors  and  my  efforts  have  been  crowned  only  by  failure. 
Deep,  indeed,  is  my  sorrow,  and  poignant  my  disappoint 
ment.  I  mourn  my  failure  for  my  country's  sake  ;  for  it 
seems  to  me  that  not  only  does  this  decision  of  these  eight 
members  destroy  and  level  in  the  dust  the  essential  safe 
guards  of  the  Constitution,  intended  to  surround  and  pro 
tect  the  election  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  this  Union, 
but  it  announces  to  the  people  of  this  land  that  truth  and 
justice,  honesty  and  morality,  are  no  longer  the  essential 
bases  of  their  political  power." 


272  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

We  submit  the  case,  without  further  argument,  to  the 
public,  who  are  judge  and  jury  in  such  matters.  But,  no 
matter  what  their  verdict,  it  will  not  affect  Mr.  Bayard's 
consciousness  of  having  acted  not  only  rightly,  but  in  a 
spirit  of  exalted  patriotism  in  everything  connected  with 
this  period  of  difficulty  and  danger. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

MR.    BAYARD    IN    THE    SENATE. 

ON  Saturday,  March  20,  1875,  Mr.  Bayard  delivered 
one  of  his  longest,  most  elaborate,  and  most  effective 
speeches  in  the  Senate,  against  executive  interference 
with  the  government  of  the  State  of  Louisiana.  The 
occasion  was  momentous,  and  Mr.  Bayard  felt  its  full 
force.  A  resolution  had  been  introduced  by  Grant's  sup 
porters  approving  his  illegal  invasion  of  Louisiana.  It 
was  a  caucus  measure,  and  the  Republican  senators,  with 
some  exceptions,  supported  it  solidly  and  stolidly.  It 
was  brought  in  at  an  extra  session  of  the  Senate,  osten 
sibly  convened  for  other  and  executive  business.  It  was 
an  attempt  to  "  whitewash,"  to  slaver  over  a  bold  and 
glaring  usurpation  of  power,  dangerous,  if  justified,  to 
our  institutions,  and  to  the  perpetrator,  if  condemned. 
In  France  or  Mexico  a  military  commander  who  had  ven 
tured  so  far  would  have  been  compelled  to  resort  to  a 
coup  d'etat  in  order  to  save  his  head.  The  resolution 
was  both  unwarranted  and  Unprecedented  ;  not  to  oppose 
it  was  to  accept  Grant  as  an  "  authorized  interferer  and 
agitator  in  the  affairs  of  the  States,  and  constitution 
maker  for  all  the  States." 

Every  feeling  of  Mr.  Bayard's,  all  his  convictions, 
bristled  against  any  such  conclusion,  which  seemed  to 
him  to  imply  the  definitive  and  final  winding  up  of  con* 


274  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

stitutional  government  in  this  country,  and  he  spoke 
against  the  fact  and  spirit  of  the  whole  proposition  with 
intense  force  and  earnestness.  His  argument  was  pro 
found  and  conclusive,  but  the  tincture  of  strong  and  deep 
feeling  which  pervaded  it  was  unusual,  even  for  so  ear 
nest  and  positive  a  man  as  he.  In  his  peroration  to  this 
speech  there  are  frank  declarations  in  regard  to  himself 
which  we  do  not  encounter  elsewhere  in  any  of  his 
speeches,  and  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  elicit  from 
so  reserved  and  modest  a  public  man  in  his  calmer  mo 
ments.  These  golden  words  embody  a  confession  which 
ought  to  be  engraved  in  a  conspicuous  place  among  the 
recorded  speeches  of  American  statesmen.  They  are  the 
declaration  of  faith  of  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  in 
these  turbulent,  self-seeking,  corrupt  times. 

"Mr.  President,"  said  Mr.  Bayard,  "in  1869  I  came 
to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  never  having  been  a 
member  of  any  public  assembly  prior  to  that  time.  My 
pursuits  were  congenial ;  the  reward  obtained  was  suf- 
ficent  to  give  me  a  pecuniary  independence.  Those  from 
whom  I  drew  my  blood,  whose  name  I  bear,  had  been 
too  long  in  public  life  not  to  have  become  poor ;  and,  if 
my  personal  interests  had  been  consulted,  I  should  have 
continued  to  seek  those  rewards  that  industry  and  fair 
intelligence  will  bring  to  any  man  in  a  profession  for 
which  he  is  at  all  adapted.  I  had  but  one  object,  and 
that  I  believe  I  have  steadily  pursued.  The  country  that 
I  love  had  been  rent  by  discord,  and  the  hearts  of  its 
people  had  been  alienated  far,  far  from  each  other.  I 
had  no  other  object  in  coming  here  than  to  bring  my  fel 
low  countrymen  into  accord  with  each  other,  and  I  am 
not  conscious  since  I  came  that  a  word  has  been  uttered 
by  me  or  a  vote  cast  tinged  with  unfriendliness  to  any 


MR.   BAYARD   IX   THE  SENATE.  275 

portion  of  my  country,  North  or  South,  or  East  or  West. 
And  now,  sir,  if  I  lift  my  voice  in  favor  of  a  measure  or 
in  opposition,  I  have  long  ago  been  taught  it  will  not  be 
efficient  in  this  assembly,  but  may  be  heard  elsewhere, 
and  even  from  me,  if  what  comes  is  truth,  there  is  a  God 
of  truth  who  shall  make  it  efficient  in  his  own  good 
time." 

These  are  words  which  should  be  pondered  carefully. 
They  were  uttered  in  a  moment  of  intense  feeling,  with 
the  utmost  sincerity.  They  are  exactly  and  literally  truth 
ful.  They  represent  the  standard  by  which  the  life  of  at 
least  one  public  man  has  been  regulated  and  guided 
throughout ;  and  how  many  of  Mr.  Bayard's  fellows  in 
the  Senate  could  utter  them  as  ingenuously  ? 

Only  the  other  day,  in  repelling  the  insinuation  of 
Mr.  Elaine,  that  Kellogg,  of  Louisiana,  could  not  be  un 
seated  because  he  was  seated  in  pursuance  of  a  bargain 
by  which  the  Democrats  gained  a  member,  Mr.  Bayard 
indignantly  said  that  he  would  sooner  have  resigned  his 
seat  and  abandoned  his  position  as  senator  than  consent 
to  any  such  arrangement.  This,  in  courtlier  phrase,  was 
the  repetition  of  his  declaration  that,  if  he  were  left  only 
the  alternative  of  violating  his  conscience  or  retaining  his 
honorable  post,  he  could  still  "  take  my  hat  and  go  home." 
These  things  are  quoted  again  in  this  place  because  they 
illustrate  the  character  of  Thomas  Francis  Bayard  as  a 
senator.  They  show  that  at  the  root  of  his  consistency, 
which  is  too  sincere,  too  vital,  too  much  awake  to  living 
and  contemporary  issues  and  needs,  to  deserve  the  re 
proachful  epithet  of  Bourbonism,  and  at  the  root  also  of 
his  intense  individuality,  which  is  distinctive  and  forceful 
enough  to  have  enabled  him  to  tower  aloft  in  any  station, 
there  are  the  big,  warm  heart  and  the  sane  mind  in  the 


276  LIFE   OF   THOMAS   F.    BAYARD. 

sound  body  of  an  honest  man  of  good  proportions  per 
fectly  and  orderly  developed. 

This  character  goes  for  its  full  worth  in  the  Senate. 
Mr.  Bayard  is  understood  and  appreciated  there  as  in  the 
outer  world.  Many  hate  him,  for  there  are  mean  men, 
supple  knaves,  and  fawning  hypocrites  there  as  elsewhere, 
and  Mr.  Bayard's  frank  scorn  of  pretense,  his  ready  re 
sentment  of  misrepresentation,  and  quick  detection  and 
exposure  of  fraud  in  intent  and  in  act,  have  pricked  many 
a  bubble  reputation,  and  torn  away  the  veils  of  many  a 
job ;  but  those  who  do  not  love  him  still  can  not  with 
hold  from  him  their  respect,  lie  has  not  many  intimates, 
yet  his  relations  with  all  are  courteous  and  kindly.  The 
admiration  which  his  natural  powers  and  robust,  incisive 
thought  command  is  supplemented  by  the  instinctive 
deference  accorded  to  his  pure  and  blameless  integrity  of 
life,  his  sincere  and  devoted  earnestness  of  purpose.  He 
is  impulsive,  warm-hearted,  ingenuous  as  a  boy,  and  his 
reserve  is  not  of  manner,  nor  does  it  create  any  suspicion 
of  ruse  policy.  A  rapid,  untiring  talker,  you  can  not  be 
with  him  ten  minutes  without  noticing  his  alert  curiosity 
of  intellect,  the  wide  range  of  topics  of  deep  modern 
interest  and  vital  purport  to  which  his  thoughts  are  con 
stantly  directing  themselves,  the  exact  co-ordination  of  his 
ideas  with  logical  forms  and  firm-rooted  principles,  and  his 
versatility,  richness  and  correctness  of  diction,  which  is 
more  striking,  because  less  severely  pruned,  in  his  con 
versation  than  in  his  orations.  You  find  him  to  be  a 
simple-hearted,  courteous  gentleman,  richly  endowed 
with  original  thought  and  fine  expression,  robust  in  mind 
and  body,  straightforward,  unaffected,  earnest,  a  hearty 
and  thoroughly  modern  American,  in  the  fullest  sympa 
thy  with  democratic  institutions  and  ideas — the  very  type 


MR.   BAYARD   IN   THE   SENATE.  277 

and  exemplar  of  a  virile  American  hickory  in  the  vigor 
of  its  maturing  growth,  strong,  symmetrical,  columnar, 
with  its  top  toward  the  blue  sky  and  its  shaft  unbending 
to  wooing  zephyr  or  to  assailing  storm.  And,  what  you 
find  Mr.  Bayard  to  be  in  ten  minutes,  his  associates  in  the 
Senate  have  known  him  to  be  for  ten  years.  He  has 
ripened,  but  he  has  not  changed.  He  has  grown,  but 
always  from  the  same  roots,  always  upward ! 

He  is  tall,  with  a  large  frame,  square,  broad  shoulders, 
massive  joints,  long  limbs,  spare  but  not  thin  in  flesh. 
His  clean-shaven  face  looks  younger  than  his  iron-gray 
hair,  and  his  calm,  cool,  expressive  gray  eyes  have  the 
mobility  and  firmness  of  youth.  But  the  pent-house  arch 
of  heavy  eyebrows  above  them — eyebrows  of  prodigious 
flexibility  and  an  unusually  wide  arc  of  motion — is  that 
of  the  man  who  has  earned  his  seat  in  the  house  of  the 
elders.  Those  eyebrows,  the  well-lined  mouth,  and  large, 
strong  nose,  give  to  Mr.  Bayard's  face  traits  enough  of 
decision  and  faculty  for  leadership  and  command.  But 
the  forehead,  high  and  white,  and  the  general  effect  of  the 
countenance  are  to  create  the  impression  of  the  thinker 
in  active  life,  the  philosophic  athlete,  who  does  not  for 
get  the  academy  while  doing  his  duties  and  winning  lau 
rels  in  the  palaestra.  Mr.  Bayard  dresses  with  the  sim 
plicity  and  good  taste  of  a  man  of  the  world  whose  duties 
are  social  as  well  as  political.  In  talking  with  him  you 
perceive  the  outcome  of  his  active  energy  of  thought  and 
earnestness  of  purpose  in  a  slight  nervousness  of  manner 
that  comports  agreeably  with  his  flexible,  sonorous  voice, 
so  clear  in  enunciation  and  so  equable  in  volume.  He 
twirls  a  watch-key,  he  twists  and  untwists  a  bit  of  pa 
per,  he  emphasizes  his  remarks  with  a  lead  pencil  in  his 
fingers,  his  mobile  eyebrows  rise  and  fall  like  a  portcullis 


278  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

to  a  tower  of  strength  ;  finally,  he  leaves  his  seat ;  he  leans 
back,  with  his  elbows  upon  a  mantel  or  other  piece  of  fur 
niture,  he  sits  astride  another  chair,  his  arms  folded  across 
its  back,  and,  at  last,  when  fully  warmed  up,  he  walks 
the  room  with  long  steps,  his  hands  planted  deep  in  his 
pockets,  his  chin  raised,  and  his  eyes  now  fixed  upon  some 
point  above  their  level,  now  upon  the  carpet  in  deep 
concentration  of  thought,  while  the  well-balanced  sen 
tences  never  cease  to  flow  out  from  the  large,  expressive 
mouth. 

Mr.  Bayard's  manner  of  discharging  his  duties  as  sen 
ator  reflects  a  good  deal  of  his  individuality  and  his  idio 
syncrasies.  He  works  well  and  works  hard,  but  he  selects 
his  work,  and,  except  on  particular  occasions,  confines 
himself  to  it.  He  is  not  perpetually  on  the  qid  vive  for 
words  and  phrases,  for  something  to  suspect  or  to  quirk 
and  carp  at,  like  the  captious  and  sardonic  Edmunds.  He 
loves  business  better  than  the  sound  of  his  voice,  and  has 
not  Thurman's  untiring  joy  in  fence,  which  leads  that 
pugnacious  senator  not  only  to  take  up  every  challenge, 
but  also  to  keep  tossing  his  own  gauntlet  into  the  ring, 
as  if  ever  spoiling  for  a  fight.  He  does  not  envy  Elaine's 
"  bounce  "  nor  his  reputation  as  a  "  free  lance,"  nor  does 
he  lie  in  wait,  like  Conkling,  for  chances  to  make  "  hits  " 
such  as  will  please  the  galleries.  He  attends  to  the  du 
ties  of  a  senator,  and  is  too  much  occupied  with  the  solid 
part  of  these  duties  to  have  either  time  or  taste  for  their 
frippery  and  fribbles. 

There  are  two  classes  of  senators :  those  who  do  real 
work,  and  those  who  do  nothing,  or  simply  pretend  to 
work.  Mr.  Bayard  is  of  the  former  class.  But  this 
class  must  again  be  subdivided  into  other  two  classes: 
those  who  work  for  the  public  service,  and  those  who 


MR.   BAYARD   IX   THE  SEXATE.  279 

work  for  their  own  private  ends  or  to  serve  their  selfish 
ambitions.  Mr.  Bayard  is  of  the  first  class  again ;  but 
these,  in  a  still  minuter  classification,  must  be  separated 
into  the  species  of  those  who  like  details  and  routine 
work,  and  those  who  prefer  broader  fields  and  larger  and 
more  general  matter  to  deal  with  and  accomplish — just  as 
lawers  are  case-lawyers  and  principle-lawyers,  attorneys 
and  counselors.  Mr.  Bayard's  large,  synthetic  mind  in 
clines  him  naturally  to  consort  with  those  who  act  upon 
the  broader  field,  and  survey  the  affairs  of  the  Senate  from 
the  wider' point  of  vision.  He  does  not  neglect  detail, 
but  does  not  seek  it.  He  is  not  a  minimizer  upon  pre 
ference.  His  is  a  constructive  intellect,  rather  than  an 
anatomizing  one.  He  is  a  statesman  with  a  mind  better 
adapted  to  grouping  together  large  things  than  for  picking 
small  ones  to  pieces. 

Mr.  Bayard,  like  every  other  senator,  is  of  course  con 
strained  to  select  the  subjects  of  legislation  to  which  to 
give  his  particular  attention  from  the  wide  and  multifa 
rious  range  of  matters  coming  before  the  Senate,  and  his 
choice  is  characteristic.  He  is  alert  upon  all  questions  bear 
ing  upon  the  powers  of  the  Constitution  and  the  interpre 
tation  of  that  instrument.  All  questions  interest  him 
which  affect  in  any  way  the  functions  and  the  harmonious 
reciprocal  action  of  the  co-ordinate  branches  of  govern 
ment  ;  which  involve  the  interpretation  of,  not  so  much 
this  or  that  particular  law,  as  the  law  itself,  that  corpus 
juris  which  rises  towering,  like  a  decorous  and  stately 
trunk,  out  of  a  bed  of  humus  formed  by  the  decay  of 
particular  leaves  and  branches  from  time  immemorial. 
All  questions  are  his  which  bear  upon  men's  artificial  re 
lations  in  society — education,  finance,  political  economy. 
His  mind  seems  to  have  formed  a  distinct  and  definite 


280  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

conception  of  the  ideal  state  that  the  founders  of  this 
republic  had  in  view  when  they  framed  the  Constitution 
as  the  ligament  which  should  bind  the  States  together  in 
one  harmonious  whole.  He  defends  this  conception  by 
holding  himself  armed  cap-a-pie  to  resist  every  assault 
made  upon  it,  and  by  toiling  to  repeal  and  lop  away  every 
excrescence  which  has  grown  upon  it,  and  by  trampling 
down  every  abortion  that  seeks  to  secure  legitimacy  by 
assuming  its  name  and  parodying  its  shape.  The  great 
leading  and  guiding  principles  of  the  tariff,  the  currency, 
the  transportation  service,  the  exchanges,  he  has  mastered 
thoroughly  and  effectively  ;  he  has  gone  into  our  foreign 
relations  as  far  as  they  affect  the  national  welfare  and  the 
national  honor,  and  understands  the  principles  of  appro 
priation  and  the  details  and  the  rationale  of  the  "  Book 
of  Estimates  "  as  well  as  any  man. 

But  omniscience  is  not  Senator  Bayard's  foible.  He 
does  not  air  his  opinions  and  his  phrases  ad  captandum. 
He  does  not  speak  for  buncombe.  He  does  not  speak  at 
all  unless  the  occasion  demands  it.  JSTor  does  he  dabble 
a  little  here  and  dibble  a  little  there  day  after  day  in 
the  Senate,  for  the  sake  of  saying  something  with  each 
revolving  sun.  He  does  not  feel  called  upon  to  support 
or  object  to  every  little  bill  that  comes  up  from  the  com 
mittees.  If  his  mind  is  made  up,  he  votes.  If  he  doubts, 
he  asks,  for  information.  If  it  is  satisfactory,  he  acqui 
esces.  If  he  is  not  pleased,  he  states  his  objections  sim 
ply  and  courteously,  and  then  has  done.  All  this  makes 
him  a  pleasant  senator  to  the  whole  body,  and  he  never 
wrangles,  never  is  assailed,  unless,  as  we  have  shown, 
now  and  then  in  such  cases  as  we  have  already  described. 
This  habitual  abstention,  this  simple  way,  conjoined  with 
his  earnestness  and  zeal,  make  Mr.  Bayard  a  very  strong  and 


MR.   BAYARD   IX   THE   SENATE.  281 

powerful  debater,  and  give  great  weight  to  liis  arguments 
when  he  does  choose  to  speak.  He  speaks  not  for  the  sake 
of  talking,  but  to  convince  or  to  persuade,  and  he  lias  often 
done  both.  He  gives  a  striking  instance  of  this  power  of 
his,  in  his  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration,  from  which  we  have 
already  made  some  quotations.  He  was  illustrating  his 
views  of  the  force  of  "  unwritten  laws." 

"  I  wish,"  he  said,  "  I  could  bring  to  the  minds  of 
those  who  hear  me  now  the  spirit  and  meaning  of  a  scene 
which  took  place  two  or  three  years  ago  in  one  of  the 
Southern  States,  whither  I  had  gone  to  urge  in  friendly 
counsel  the  rejection  of  some  false  and  dangerous  sug 
gestions  in  relation  to  our  national  finance,  which  were 
being  introduced  and  recommended  disingenuously  and 
mischievously  by  political  agents  from  other  parts  of  the 
country.  In  the  utter  impoverishment  of  an  agricultural 
people,  suffering  from  a  disorganized  system  of  labor, 
prostration  of  industries,  and  an  abolition  of  the  only 
banking  facilities  upon  which  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  rely,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  that  any  promise  of 
immediate  relief,  even  the  shallow  and  mocking  cry  of 
'  More  money,'  should  have  been  hailed  with  delight.  It 
seemed  to  me  then  to  be  my  duty  to  warn  those  fellow 
countrymen  of  ours,  not  only  against  the  false  economies 
of  such  doctrines,  but  to  develop  the  danger  to  our  na 
tional  credit,  and  the  assault  upon  the  government  itself, 
that  lay  concealed  within  the  propositions  of  renewed 
<  inflation  '  and  '  convertible  bonds.' ': 

"  One  evening,  after  a  pleasant  dinner,  and  in  all  the 
freedom  of  social  assembly,  these  topics  were  debated  in  a 
room  filled  with  men  of  whom  I  was  almost  the  only  one 
who  had  not  c  worn  the  gray '  from  1861  to  1865. 

"  The  discussion  was  vigorous — first,  the  economic,  and, 


282  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

finally,  the  patriotic  side  of  the  question — and  to  my  ap 
peals  on  this  point  there  was  but  a  chilly  response ;  for  it 
was  in.  the  days  when  military  menace  unhappily  still 
survived  as  a  political  force  of  administration  in  the  affairs 
of  some  of  the  States. 

"  Finally  I  said,  l  Gentlemen,  you  are  all  very  positive, 
and  unwilling  to  accept  my  views,  but  I  think  I  know 
how  to  control  you,  and,  despite  your  strong  language, 
can  find  means  to  obtain  your  submission.' 

"  There  was  no  response  for  a  moment ;  an  atmosphere 
of  resistance  seemed  to  fill  the  room,  and  in  the  eyes 
around  me  shone  a  light  of  defiance.  Then  one  of  the 
party  asked,  with  some  severity  of  manner,  '  Pray,  sir, 
how  do  you  propose  to  manage  us  so  easily  and  compel 
our  submission  ? ' 

"7  said,  'I would  give  you  power  to  do  right <,  and 
then  I  would  defy  you  to  betray  the  trust.  You  your 
selves  should  be  your  conquerors? 

"  There  were  few  men  in  that  room  who  had  not  faced 
death  in  battle,  and  many  bore  the  scars  of  conflict  on 
their  persons  ;  but,  as  I  looked  around,  the  angry  light  of 
resentment  had  passed  from  their  eyes,  which  were  not 
unmoistened  by  a  generous  emotion,  and  I  was  left  the 
victor  on  that  field." 

That  was  true  eloquence,  satisfactory  to  even  the  most 
exigent  definition  of  the  great  mysterious  power.  Mr. 
Bayard  has  often  exercised  this  force  in  the  Senate  ;  he 
always  makes  it  felt  on  the  stump.  There,  on  great  oc 
casions  (he  never  speaks  on  small  ones),  and  in  the  open 
air,  or  in  crowded  assemblies,  his  attractive,  judicious  style 
warms  up  with  a  new  glow  ;  his  clear,  sounding  voice, 
always  well  and  skillfully  modulated,  rings  with  a  new 
fervor ;  passion  runs  hand  in  hand  with  argument  and 


MR.   BAYARD   IN  THE  SENATE.  283 

reason,  and  the  engrossing  subject,  the  tremendous  occa 
sion,  the  inspiring  presence,  fill  him  with  a  fire  that  sets 
all  his  hearers  aflame.  His  elaborate  speeches  are  models 
of  forensic  skill  and  scholarly  elocution,  masculine,  rapid, 
full  of  spirit,  full  of  thought,  illustrative  of  his  captivat 
ing  manners  and  bright,  incisive  intellect.  He  always  com 
mands  attention,  and,  as  has  been  neatly  said,  "  His  most 
trifling  utterances  derive  force  and  dignity  from  the  ear 
nestness  and  sincerity  pervading  them."  His  winning 
courtesy  is  most  charming,  and  inspires  him  always  with 
the  happiest  "  hits,"  and  his  hearers  with  a  personal 
warmth  of  feeling  for  him.  Thus,  in  opening  a  cam 
paign  speech  at  Baltimore,  in  1875,  he  said :  "  Even  to 
night  a  man  whose  heart  is  in  the  cause  asked  me  why  I 
came  to  Maryland  when  there  was  more  debatable  ground 
elsewhere.  A  soldier  feels  that  he  must  go  where  he  is 
ordered,  but  even  to  him  there  must  come  a  choice  of 
duties,  and  I  could  not  resist  the  wish  to  address  the  peo 
ple  of  Maryland.  Elsewhere,  I  can  ask  and  hope  for  a 
welcome  ;  here,  I  am  sure  of  it."  So,  likewise,  when  he 
spoke  at  the  Georgia  State  fair  in  the  same  year,  he  said, 
in  acknowledging  the  welcome  extended  to  him,  that  it 
had  been  so  general  that  he  could  not  believe  that  it  was 
restrained  by  party  ties.  Burns,  one  of  the  sweetest  of 
native  poets,  had  said  that,  when  called  upon  to  enter  the 
great,  unknown  future,  he  could  wish  no  better  reception 
than  "  just  a  Highland  welcome."  "  I,"  said  the  Senator, 
"could  wish  nothing  better,  after  passing  an  ordeal  of 
any  kind,  than  just  a  Georgia  welcome."  More  pleasant 
still  was  his  compliment  to  scholarship,  when  addressing 
the  literary  societies  of  the  University  of  Virginia  in 
1873.  "Specialists,"  he  said,  "undoubtedly  have  their 
high  uses,  and  far  be  it  from  me  to  suggest  a  want  of  re- 
13 


284  LIFE   OF   THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

spect  for  their  recondite  and  highly  meritorious  labors. 
But  to  such  I  do  not  presume  to  speak.  How  should  I, 
heated  and  dusty,  and  not  a  little  weary  with  the  inarcl  i 
and  struggle  of  active  life,  address  myself  to  such  a  pro 
fessor  as  that  German,  celebrated  for  a  life-long  devotion 
to  the  Greek  article,  and  who,  when  dying,  whispered  to 
a  friend,  <  My  life  has  been  a  great  mistake  ! '  and,  wher. 
asked  what  so  troubled  his  last  moments,  feebly  and  feel  - 
ingly  replied,  'I  have  attempted  too  much  ;  I  shouh 
have  confined  myself  to  the  dative  case.' ): 

But  this  velvet  covers  steel,  as  we  have  shown  in  the 
way  in  which  Mr.  Bayard  retorted  upon  Mr.  Boutwell 
In  his  earliest  speech  upon  the  currency  question,*  Mr 
Bayard  found  it  necessary  to  retaliate  upon  the  late  Vice 
President  Wilson  for  some  of  his  flings  at  the  Democratic 
party,  and  the  rebuke  was  full  of  a  very  lofty  scorn : 

"  The  other  day,"  he  said,  "  the  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts  took  occasion,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  power,  and 
from  that  elevation  which  the  vast  majority  of  his  party 
in  this  body  gave  him,  to  throw  taunts  and  slurs  upon 
the  Democratic  party.  His  mouth  was  filled  with  phrases 
from  Scripture.  He  stood  knee-deep  in  his  own  praises 
of  himself  and  his  party.  He  referred  us  to  the  Bible  for 
his  commission,  and  announced  himself  one  of  the  vice 
gerents  of  Almighty  God.  There  was  a  parable  in  that 
good  book,  with  which  he  affected  to  have  much  famili 
arity,  which  it  seemed  to  me  he  had  overlooked.  It  was 
that  of  a  certain  Pharisee  who  went  up  into  the  temple 
to  make  his  prayer,  and  made  such  a  one  as  we  heard 
here  a  few  days  ago  from  the  honorable  Senator.  The 
value  of  that  prayer  we  have  nothing  less  than  divine 
estimate  for.  We  know  how  it  was  compared  with  that 

*  Funding  Bill,  March  7,  1870. 


MR.   BAYARD   IN  THE  SENATE.  285 

other  and  humbler  prayer  that  came  from  a  man  who  had 
at  least  begun  his  Christianity  by  the  necessary  virtue  of 
humility. 

"  As  I  listened  to  the  honorable  Senator,  there  were 
some  readings  of  my  earlier  days  that  came  back  to  me, 
and  among  them  I  remember  when  one  of  the  purest- 
minded  and  sweetest  poets  of  our  language  had  been 
similarly  assailed  for  his  alleged  irreverence.  It  was 
Tom  Hood,  who  dedicated  an  ode  to  one  Mr.  Wilson  of 
his  day,  when,  in  his  absence  from  his  native  country,  he 
was  assailed  by  that  gentleman.  There  is  a  portion  of 
it  which,  it  strikes  me,  it  might  be  well  to  recall,  to 
see  whether  there  can  be  found  in  it  any  application 
to  our  own  time.  Hood's  ode  to  that  Mr.  Wilson  ran  as 
follows : 

'  Shun  pride,  O  Rea !  whatever  sort  beside 
You  take  in  lieu,  shun  spiritual  pride. 
A  pride  there  is  of  rank,  a  pride  of  birth, 

A  pride  of  learning,  and  a  pride  of  purse, 
A  London  pride — in  short,  there  be  on  earth 

A  host  of  prides,  some  better  and  some  worse. 
But  of  all  prides  since  Lucifer's  attaint 
The  proudest  swells  a  self-elected  saint.' 

"  The  moral  of  the  lecture  which  we  received  from  that 
honorable  Senator  was  that  we  should  shun  principles 
that  led  us  into  minorities ;  that  when  a  man's  political 
principles  became  unpopular,  they  should  therefore  be 
abandoned.  He  did  not  seem  to  understand  how  a  man 
can  go  cheerfully  into  a  minority  rather  than  surrender 
his  convictions  of  right.  It  has  been  the  standing  by 
those  convictions  that  has  brought  the  Democratic  party 
into  the  minority  in  which  they  stand  on  this  floor." 

In  the  course  of  Mr.  Bayard's  speech  in  the  Louisiana 


286  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

Returning  Board* — fruitful  theme !  he  was  rudely  assailed 
by  J.  Hodman  West,  carpet-bag  senator  from  that  State. 
Mr.  Bayard's  reply  was  brief :  "  Mr.  President,"  said  he, 
"one  word.  Perhaps  the  rules  of  order  of  this  body 
might  have  been  invoked  when  any  Senator  was  charged 
with  having  by  his  precept  and  his  example  led  to  law 
lessness  and  outrage.  Such  wras  the  language  in  effect 
used  by  the  Senator  who  has  just  taken  his  seat  in  regard 
to  me.  But  I  do  not  invoke  the  protection  of  the  rules.  It 
seems  to  me  that  it  might  have  been  wiser  for  him  to  have 
abstained  from  such  remarks  ;  for  on  the  one  side  stands 
the  record  of  my  debate  in  this  chamber,  and  stands  the 
record  of  my  personal  life,  and  on  the  other  side  stands 
the  charge.  Heave  them  there  to  those  who  Jcnoiv  both" 

His  scorn  of  action  for  buncombe,  of  neglecting  ob 
vious  duty  in  the  pursuit  of  cheap  popularity,  broke  out 
finely  when  the  amendment  for  abolishing  the  franking 
privilege  was  before  the  Senate.f  In  casting  his  vote 
against  it,  Mr.  Bayard  said  :  "  I  think  it  pretty  certain 
that  an  equal  amount  of  humbuggery  has  never  connect 
ed  itself  with  any  matter  that  ever  came  before  Congress 
as  is  connected  with  this  proposed  abolition  of  the  frank 
ing  privilege.  It  has  been  a  joke  pretty  much  for  the 
last  hour  in  the  Senate,  perhaps  a  serious  one  for  the  peo 
ple  of  the  country.  In  order  that  the  Senate  may  take 
time  to  consider  this  matter  a  little  more  discreetly,  I 
move  that  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn." 

His  power  of  irony  is  capitally  illustrated  in  his 
speech  on  the  admission  of  Mississippi 4 

"  Mr.  President,  yesterday  I  listened  with  much  interest 
and  pleasure  to  the  very  able  and  eloquent  speech  of  the 

*  Senate,  December  15,  1876.  f  January  22,  1873. 

\  Senate,  February  15,  1870. 


MR.   BAYARD   IN  THE  SENATE.  287 

honorable  Senator  from  Wisconsin  [Mr.  Carpenter],  and 
I  regret  that  I  had  not  the  opportunity  of  reading  it  be 
fore  I  submitted  these  remarks  to  the  Senate.  It  con 
tained  a  very  novel  and  ingenious  method  for  dissolving 
the  Union,  by  all  the  States,  by  means  of  conventions 
called  for  that  purpose,  going  back  into  their  territorial 
condition  by  what  might  be  termed  a  universal  solvent 
for  melting  away  government.  If  the  honorable  Senator 
applies  for  a  patent,  I  trust  it  will  not  be  granted  to  him  ; 
the  invention  is  too  fraught  with  danger.  In  other  re 
spects  his  speech  struck  me  as  containing  much  that  was 
sound  in  doctrine,  and  to  much  that  he  said  I  would  give 
a  warm  approval.  But  it  is  so  now  that  a  man  can  not 
make  in  this  body  a  sound,  constitutional  argument  with 
out  being  instantly  accused  of  tending  to  the  Democratic 
party.  This  is  the  great  bogie  with  whose  name  radical 
nurses  frighten  their  unruly  children  into  quiescence.  The 
honorable  Senator  seemed  disturbed  in  his  mind — his  pro 
phetic  mind — inasmuch  as  it  was  to  his  vision  quite  pos 
sible  that  for  the  sins  of  the  Radical  party  Providence 
might  permit  the  Democratic  party  again  to  come  into 
power.  This,  to  my  mind,  would  be  only  another  proof 
of  Almighty  beneficence,  that  after  all  the  crimes  of  this 
Radical  party,  committed  through  so  long  a  time  and  so 
often,  such  mercy  should  still  be  extended  to  them  ;  and, 
believing  in  that  beneficent  spirit,  I  do  not  doubt  that  we 
shall  soon,  and  at  no  very  distant  day,  see  this  precise  ex 
hibition  indicated  by  the  Senator  of  the  forgiveness  and 
cure  which  a  kind  Providence  extends  to  sinful  men  even 
in  the  midst  of  their  wickedness." 

On  another  occasion,  also,  Mr.  Bayard  sent  a  shaft  at 
Mr.  Carpenter,  which  must  have  found  its  way  through 
the  joints  of  that  senator's  harness.  This  was  in  his 


288  LIFE   OF  TIIOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

speech  on  Louisiana,  on  February  27,  18T3,  delivered 
about  C  A.  M.,  toward  the  close  of  a  stormy,  continuous 
session,  in  which  the  conservative  members  had  resorted 
to  every  parliamentary  device  to  prevent  what  they  knew 
to  be  an  unconstitutional  measure  from  being  adopted. 
"No  other  senator,"  said  Mr.  Bayard,  "than  he  who  has 
just  spent  an  entire  day  in  demonstrating  with  force  and 
brilliancy  the  utter  falsity  of  a  proposition,  and  ended  his 
debate  by  recording  his  vote  in  its  favor,  could  have  been 
capable  of  the  coolness,  not  to  say  effrontery  or  audacity, 
which  has  just  been  exhibited  by  the  Senator  from  Wis 
consin,  in  turning  to  Democratic  members  of  this  body, 
and  seeking  to  place  upon  their  shoulders  the  responsi 
bility  for  the  defeat  of  a  measure  which  the  Senator  has 
just  aided  in  loading  down  with  an  amendment,  reciting 
facts  proven  by  himself  to  be  false,  and  including  results 
full  of  outrage,  injustice,  and  usurpation  of  control  in  the 
affairs  of  the  unhappy  people  of  Louisiana." 

Senator  Logan  was  treated  to  a  touch  of  this  same 
sort  in  Mr.  Bayard's  speech  *  on  the  army  bill : 

"  Why,  sir,  what  is  the  object  and  intent  of  such  lan 
guage  as  was  used  by  the  Senator  from  Illinois  the  other 
day  when,  in  the  midst  of  very  audible  denunciation,  he 
warned  us  in  his  most  tragic  tones,  and  with  the  aid  of 
his  elaborated  manuscript,  in  such  words  as  these : 

"  '  Let  Democrats  of  the  South  and  their  northern  allies  beware 
the  storm  they  are  raising.  The  spirit  of  retaliation  once  raised,  sir, 
will  only  be  appeased  by  the  most  radical  assurances  of  future  quiet. 
If  the  disease  upon  our  body-politic  again  requires  the  knife,  they 
may  rest  assured  the  surgeon  will  "cut  beyond  the  wound  to  make 
the  cure  co'mplete." ' 

"  This  simile  may  be  termed  one  of  surgery  ;  to  many 

*  April  21,  1879. 


MR.   BAYARD   IN   THE  SENATE.  280 

it  will  be  ruore  suggestive  of  butchery.  I  do  not  propose 
to  exchange  warnings,  much  less  threats,  either  with  the 
Senator  or  his  party ;  but  to  my  fellow  countrymen  I  sug 
gest  that  the  knife,  the  use  of  which  is  to  be  restricted 
only  '  by  the  most  radical  assurances  of  future  quiet,'  may 
indeed  '  cut  beyond  the  wound/  and  reach  the  life  of  the 
patient." 

In  this  speech  Mr.  Bayard's  quickness  in  repartee  was 
illustrated  at  Mr.  Elaine's  expense.  There  had  been  a  lit 
tle  "  spat "  between  them,  of  the  sort  which  Mr.  Elaine 
is  ever  provoking,  in  regard  to  some  "precedents"  for 
military  violence  at  the  polls.  The  dialogue  closed  in 
this  way ' 

"  Mr.  ELAINE.  Will  the  Senator  yield  to  me  a  moment  ? 

Mr.  BAYARD.  With  pleasure. 

Mr.  ELAINE.  In  regard  to  the  Senator's  direction  as 
to  my  wisdom,  of  course  I  will  take  care  of  that  myself. 
The  Senator  began  the  interruption  which  I  made  by 
palpably  misquoting  what  I  had  said. 

Mr.  BAYARD.  I  accepted  the  Senator's  correction. 

Mr.  ELAINE.  Then  the  Senator  comes  back  now,  and 
gives  me  monition  as  to  my  lack  of  wisdom  in  making  an 
assertion  which  he  had  put  in  my  mouth,  and  which  had 
no  foundation  whatever  in  fact.  That  is  all  to  which  I 
desire  to  call  attention. 

Mr.  BAYARD.  The  Senator  does  me  injustice.  His 
lack  of  wisdom  I  shall  never  attempt  to  supply" 

Mr.  Bayard's  indignant  resentment  against  Sheridan's 
infamous  "  banditti "  dispatch  to  Belknap,  dated  January 
5,  1875,  burst  forth  in  the  Senate  three  days  later,  and 
the  Senator's  words  should  be  pondered  by  those  jaunty 
politicians  of  the  day — the  ephemera  of  a  very  transient 
sunshine — who  would  "  go  with  a  light  heart "  to  Grant 


290  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

and  a  third  term.  After  quoting  the  dispatch,  and  Bel- 
knap's  reply  to  it  of  the  Yth,*  Mr.  Bayard  said :  "  Ah, 
Mr.  President,  if  there  was  the  tone  that  under  other  ad 
ministrations  animated  the  executive  of  this  country,  he 
would  never  sign  his  name  again  as  Lieutenant-General 
of  the  United  States  army.  Is  this  the  language  of  an 
American  officer  toward  his  fellow  countrymen  ?  Why, 
sir,  if  he  were  in  a  hostile  country  among  the  sick  and 
wretched  Piegan  Indians,  had  he  been  in  the  service  of 
Mexico,  there  could  not  have  been  a  more  ruthless,  a 
darker,  or  more  bloody  threat  than  is  contained  in  the 
closing  lines  of  this  dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of  "War. 
This  is  language  relating  to  the  citizens  of  three  States 
of  this  Union.  Is  it  the  language  that  is  due  from  an 
officer  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  wearing  that 
honorable  uniform,  the  protector,  the  guard,  the  glory  of 
his  people,  without  distinction  of  party  ;  or  is  it  not  the 
language  of  some  captain  of  a  band  of  janizaries,  asking 
orders  from  an  Oriental  despot  in  regard  to  his  ruthless 
extermination  of  those  whom  he  may  deem  the  foes  of 
power  ?  This  man,  educated  with  one  of  his  text-books 
the  Constitution  of  his  country,  asks  that  Congress  shall 
pass  an  ex  post  facto  law,  making  that  a  crime  which  was 
not  a  crime  at  the  time  of  the  commission  of  the  alleged 
offense,  and  creating  new  punishments  to  make  the  pen 
alty  still  more  severe.  He  asks  for  military  commissions, 
in  these  times  of  peace,  to  try  men  neither  in  the  land 
nor  naval  service  of  the  United  States.  He  asks  for 
drum-head  courts-martial  to  try  citizens  over  whom  there 
is  no  pretense  that  the  authority  of  the  army  or  of  the 

*  "  Your  telegrams  all  received.  The  President  and  all  of  its  have  full 
confidence,  and  thoroughly  approve  your  course."  How  many  of  "  all  of 
us"  shared  in  the  post-tradership  profits  ? 


MR.   BAYARD   IN   THE   SENATE.  291 

navy  is  extended.  What  is  the  dark  and  bloody  threat 
at  the  close  of  his  dispatch  for,  Senators  ?  What  did  he 
mean  when  he  asked  the  President  to  issue  a  proclama 
tion  declaring  these  citizens  banditti,  and  that  then  no 
further  action  need  be  taken  except  that  which  would  de 
volve  upon  him  f 

"  I  confess  to  you  as  I  read  this  dispatch  my  blood 
curdled  in  my  veins.  If  it  had  been  sent  in  the  midst  of 
strife  by  a  man  heated  by  the  excitement  of  combat, 
there  might  have  been  palliation  for  it,  because  a  cooling 
time  would  have  come  when  his  better  reason  wrould 
operate,  when  <  Philip  sober '  would  have  answered  this 
i  Philip  drunk.'  But  this  dispatch  was  penned  in  safety ; 
it  was  penned  in  quiet ;  it  was  penned  where  there  was 
nothing  that  threatened  him,  and  without  anything  to 
cause  him  excitement  except  the  apprehended  loss  of 
political  power  to  the  chief  whom  he  was  sent  there  to 
represent. 

"What  character  docs  this  officer  seek  to  assume? 
There  was  Tristan  I'llcrmite,  the  provost-marshal  of  the 
royal  household,  whom  the  genius  of  Scott  has  painted 
until  he  is  familiar  in  every  household.  It  seems  to  me 
that  this  officer  has  modeled  himself  much  upon  the 
morals  and  conduct  of  this  hangman  of  royalty  of  days 
gone  by. 

"  Sir,  I  say  that  in  a  proper  condition  of  sentiment 
with  those  in  powrer  he  would  not  have  been  suffered  to 
remain  for  five  minutes  in  command  at  New  Orleans, 
lie  has  no  one  quality  that  fits  him  properly  for  the  duties 
of  command  there  now.  His  first  requisite  should  be 
good-will  and  kindness  to  the  people,  strict  impartiality ; 
no  threats  of  force,  careful  obedience  to  civil  rule.  This 
was  the  example  he  should  have  set  as  a  high  official, 


292  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

honored  by  his  country,  and  invested  with  high  discre 
tionary  powers ;  and,  as  this  example  does  not  seem  to 
originate  with  him,  I  want  it  now  taught  him,  and  taught 
so  that  not  alone  he  will  not  forget,  but  that  every  other 
officer  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States  will 
learn  and  know  that  it  is  in  the  affections,  in  the  respect 
of  their  fellow  countrymen,  and  not  in  their  fears,  that 
they  are  to  find  their  place  of  honor  and  of  safety." 

In  the  same  vein  are  the  denunciations  of  Major 
Merrill,  and  many  another  passage  of  fiery  scorn  or  fierce 
indignation  in  Mr.  Bayard's  speeches.  Mr.  Bayard's 
speech  on  the  Civil  Rights  Bill,  in  the  Senate,  on  Febru 
ary  26,  18T5,  contains  a  masterly  example  of  the  reductio 
ad  dbsurdum.  The  question  being  upon  the  bill  to  pro 
tect  all  citizens  in  their  civil  and  legal  rights  in  pursuance 
of  the  new  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  the  Senator, 
after  showing  in  a  strong  legal  argument  that  the  Su 
preme  Court  had  decided  these  ordinances  to  be  manda 
tory  upon  the  States,  and  not  upon  the  individuals  in  the 
States,  he  proceeded  to  call  attention  to  the  impractica 
bility  of  enforcing  the  proposed  regulations  and  prohibi 
tion  in  the  manner  suggested.  "  Now,  does  it  not  appear 
too  absurd,  almost  impossible,  to  imagine  Congress  gravely 
proposing  that  the  grave  federal  government  of  our 
Union  shall  be  attending  to  the  duties  of  an  hotel  clerk ; 
that  we  shall  be  examining  into  the  relative  advantages 
and  condition  of  the  bedrooms  of  an  inn,  or  deliberating 
upon  the  measure  of  duty  of  the  head  waiter  at  an  hotel, 
legislating  so  that  equal  enjoyment  at  the  table  d'lidte  is 
given  to  the  guests,  or  supervising  the  railway  conductor, 
and  taking  care  by  law  that  he  assigns  equally  good  seats 
to  all  the  passengers,  or,  assuming  the  functions  of  the 
theatre  manager  or  his  usher,  shall  insist  that  he  have 


Mil.    BAYARD   IX   THE   SENATE.  293 

always  present  in  his  mind  the  dignity  and  power  of  the 
great  government  of  the  United  States.  No  other  illus 
tration  is  needed  to  exhibit  the  absurdity  of  this  bill  than 
the  mere  suggestion  to  assign  duties  of  such  a  nature  to 
such  a  government.  It  seems  to  me  that  when  the  Su 
preme  Court  of  the  United  States  shall  be  found  sitting 
in  grave  judgment  whether  A  or  B  have  had  equal  seats 
or  equal  comforts,  or  equal  enjoyment  at  a  hotel,  or  in 
their  transportation,  or  at  some  theatre  where  their  idle 
ness  and  pleasure  may  have  led  them,  then  the  posi 
tion  will  be  so  absurd  that  the  case  will  be  laughed 
out  of  court,  even  if  there  was  no  other  way  to  get 
rid  of  it." 

Illustrating  here,  as  we  try  to  do,  rather  the  form  and 
quality  of  his  elocution  than  the  body  and  texture  of  his 
thought  and  feeling,  it  is  not  needed  to  do  more  than 
refer  to  those  many  pages  in  his  speeches  in  which  his 
deep  and  sedate  reflection  overflows  in  sententious  para 
graphs  of  gnomic  thought,  in  comprehensive  statements 
of  fundamental  principles  and  universal  law,  and  in  fine 
original  summaries  of  complex  conditions  in  public  affairs. 
The  philosophy  of  government  is  often  and  luminously 
expounded  in  these  discursive  moments,  which  seem  to 
have  a  peculiar  charm  for  his  grave  and  earnest  intellect. 
Even  in  active  and  exciting  debate  he  will  fling  out  a 
philosophical  period  such  as  distills  the  very  essence  of  a 
situation.  One  of  the  finest  and  most  characteristic  of 
these  may  be  found  in  Mr.  Bayard's  speech  on  the  Louisi 
ana  Returning  Board,  when,  in  replying  to  Mr.  Sherman's 
long  tirades  about  atrocities  to  the  negroes  and  the  need 
for  further  "  protection  "  to  them,  he  said  : 

"The  laws  of  the  land  have  given  all  that  human 
laws  can  give.  They  have  given  to  the  colored  people — 


294  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

EQUALITY  OF  OPPORTUNITY.  Now,  that  being  given,  how 
are  you,  upon  the  basis  of  equal  rights,  to  undertake  to 
supply  the  deficiencies  and  differences  with  which  the 
Almighty  has  seen  fit  to  mark  his  creatures,  both  as  races 
and  as  individuals  ?  We  all  know  that  men  start  in  the 
race  of  life  equipped  perhaps  with  equal  opportunities 
of  information ;  it  is  so  at  the  bar ;  it  is  so  in  every  pur 
suit  ;  but  we  start,  how  ?  We  start  with  the  natural  gifts 
which  are  not  created  or  bestowed  by  statute  law.  They 
did  not  come  from  man,  and  by  him  they  are  not  to  be 
controlled.  You  might  as  well  tell  me  that  you  could 
dwarf  the  intellect  of  a  Webster  to  the  stature  of  that 
of  some  half  idiot,  and  say  that  because  these  grand  arid 
almost  God-like  gifts  had  raised  the  one  to  a  position  of 
weight  where  his  counsel  and  thought  swayed  nations  and 
senates,  therefore  the  weak  and  the  ignorant  could,  by 
some  poor  statute  law  or  amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
be  raised  to  the  level  of  the  gifted  and  the  strong.  No, 
Mr.  President,  it  can  not  be  and  it  never  will  be.  All 
that  we  can  do  is  to  give  a  fair  chance,  to  give,  as  I  said 
before,  equality  of  opportunity  to  the  people  of  this 
country,  to  the  poor  boy  equally  with  the  rich  man's  son, 
to  the  black  man  who  comes  from  his  hovel,  or  the  rich 
man  who  emerges  from  his  palace.  They  must  take  their 
chances  in  this  battle  of  life,  and,  if  they  be  deficient  and 
defective,  do  not  suppose  that  an  act  of  Congress  can  un 
dertake  to  remedy  the  fact.  It  will  not  be  so." 

The  equality  of  opportunity,  let  it  be  noted,  is  the 
limit.  Republican  government  can  not  go  any  further 
in  that  direction,  for  the  next  step  is  communism,  which 
requires  the  state  to  destroy  the  uses  of  opportunity  by 
creating  and  maintaining  the  equality  of  condition.  Mr. 
Bayard  said  some  noteworthy  things  in  this  connection  in 


MR.   BAYARD   IN   THE  SENATE.  295 

his  speech  on  the  Pacific  railroads  *  and  their  relation  to 
the  government.  After  remarking  with  surprise  the 
indifference  of  the  people  to  these  great  land  and  money 
grants,  and  comparing  it  with  the  excitement  about  the 
salaries  bill,  Mr.  Bayard  said  : 

"Mr.  President,  these  great  debts,  which  are  being 
piled  upon  the  toiling  masses  of  this  country  in  total  dis 
regard  of  the  sufferings  which  are  causing  one  universal 
groan  to  arise  all  over  the  land,  are  greatly  to  be  de 
plored  and  dreaded  in  their  results — but  still  more  for 
midable  is  the  question  of  the  inroads  upon  and  the  over 
throw  of  the  great  republican  idea  of  disintegration  and 
distribution  of  power.  The  possession  of  irresponsible 
power  never  failed  in  human  history  to  corrupt  its  pos 
sessor.  Well  did  our  forefathers  know  it.  They  knew 
that  power,  like  jealousy,  grew  with  what  it  fed  upon, 
and  in  many  modes  in  building  up  this  government  they 
sought  to  check  its  growth. 

"They  did  not  intend  that  the  individual  should 
wither,  but  by  encouraging  individuality  they  sought  to 
encourage  the  growth  of  men.  They  sought,  not  strength 
by  massing  weakness,  that  atom  might  protect  atom,  but, 
by  creating  the  greatest  number  of  vigorous  integers,  to 
make  the  state  strong.  Out  of  individuality  grows  com 
petition  ;  out  of  consolidation  grows  monopoly.  Hence 
their  political  institutions,  the  abolition  of  rank  and  title, 
abolition  of  the  rule  of  primogeniture,  an  equal  division 
of  estates  without  regard  to  sex,  the  subjection  of  lands 
to  the  payment  of  debts,  the  equality  of  all  men  before 
the  law,  widespread  suffrage,  destruction  of  entailed 
estates,  limitation  upon  devises,  all  tending  to  facilitate 
the  distribution  of  wealth  and  power  and  to  prevent  per- 

*  Senate,  April  5,  1878. 


296  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

petuities.  And  yet  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  incor 
poration  was  suffered  to  creep  in,  destroying  as  it  does 
individuality,  consolidating  as  it  does  all  power  and  mak 
ing  its  owners  morally  irresponsible,  creating  artificial 
beings  who  never  die  and  whose  estates  are  never  to  be 
distributed,  but  are  perpetual. 

"Mr.  President,  the  consequences  of  this  may  be  re 
mote,  but  to  my  eye  they  are  certain.  It  is  the  creation 
of  power  without  moral  and  legal  responsibility,  and  that 
is  fatal  to  any  form  of  government  under  which  it  shall 
be  encouraged  or  permitted  to  exist." 

We  have  already  spoken  of  Mr.  Bayard's  eloquence. 
Let  us  close  this  chapter  with  another  instance  or  two  to 
illustrate  its  quality.  In  his  speech  on  the  Ku-Klux  act 
(May  21,  1872),  Mr.  Bayard  was  referring  to  the  need  for 
brotherhood  between  North  and  South,  and  the  ease  with 
which  it  could  be  brought  about,  and  related  the  follow 
ing  to  the  listening  Senate  : 

"  When  the  war  closed  in  the  spring  of  1865  an  officer 
of  the  Southern  army  found  himself,  like  thousands  of 
his  compatriots,  without  a  dollar,  on  his  way  to  his  home 
and  family.  Not  far  from  Atlanta  he  found  his  aged 
mother  and  family,  people  whom  in  1861  he  had  left  in 
affluence,  surrounded  by  all  the  luxury  and  refinement 
that  inherited  wealth  and  cultivation  for  generations  in 
the  same  family  can  alone  produce.  He  threw  himself 
from  his  weary  horse  and  entered  the  door  of  his  dwell 
ing.  The  aged  mother,  the  wife,  sisters,  little  children, 
were  all  there.  Death,  which  had  held  his  harvest  among 
the  brave  men  on  the  field  of  battle  and  in  the  Northern 
prisons,  had  spared  the  weaker  ones.  Their  suffering 
had  been  to  live.  They  had  seen  not  only  the  luxuries 
which  their  mode  of  living  had  made  habitual  swept 


MR.   BAYARD   IN   THE   SENATE.  297 

away  by  the  breath  of  war,  but  even  the  necessaries  of  a 
frugal  life  had  gone,  and  when  my  informant  found  these 
ladies  and  children,  once  so  tenderly  cared  for,  they  had 
been  living  for  ten  days  upon  dried  okra  and  salt.  This 
had  been  their  sole  subsistence.  Unable  to  relieve  their 
desperate  condition,  he  remounted  his  horse  and  rode 
back  to  the  town  of  Atlanta,  to  solicit  food  to  keep  his 
family  alive. 

"  I  am  credibly  informed  there  was  not  a  head  of  horned 
cattle,  a  sheep,  a  pig,  or  chicken  in  that  county  out  of  the 
camp  of  the  United  States  army.  On  his  way  to  Atlanta 
he  met  a  colonel  of  the  United  States  army  who,  without 
knowing  him  personally,  mentioned  his  name  (historic  in 
Georgia  and  Carolina),  and  inquired  the  way  to  his  resi 
dence.  My  informant  disclosed  himself  to  the  officer,  and, 
finding  his  purpose,  told  him  of  his  condition,  and  accepted 
such  a  loan  of  money  as  enabled  him  to  purchase  from  the 
United  States  commissary  at  Atlanta  the  necessaries  of 
life  for  his  family.  I  will  not  recount  how,  with  energy 
and  courage,  he  struggled  with  varying  success  to  make  a 
living  for  those  who  were  dependent  on  him,  but  the  elec 
tion  of  Bullock  and  the  appointment  of  his  State  officials 
forced  him  to  abandon  the  practice  of  law,  where  merit 
and  ability  could  not  compete  with  corrupt  favoritism. 

"  About  this  time  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in  the  North  a 
letter  descriptive  of  the  condition  of  Southern  men  like 
himself,  honestly  endeavoring  to  act  as  faithful  citizens  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  finding  no 
confidence  exhibited  in  their  good  intentions,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  rebuff  and  discredit,  while  thieves,  camp-fol 
lowers,  and  ignorant  and  vicious  negroes  were  placed  in 
power  over  them.  This  letter  found  its  way  into  print  in 
some  of  the  Northern  papers,  among  others,  I  believe,  in 


298  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

the  'New  York  Tribune.'  A  few  weeks  after  the  letter 
was  written  my  informant  received  by  mail  a  letter  post 
marked  Boston,  Massachusetts.  He  opened  it,  and  found 
inclosed  a  check  for  $1,000  and  a  few  lines  from  the 
writer,  stating  he  had  seen  the  letter  referred  to,  and  de 
sired,  as  a  Northern  man,  to  aid  a  fellow  citizen  in  a  distant 
State  struggling  in  such  bitter  adversity.  The  writer's 
name  was  totally  unknown  to  him,  and  he  thought  it  must 
be  a  mistake  or  a  cruel  hoax.  He  submitted  the  check  to 
a  banker,  who  at  once  informed  him  it  was  good  for  its 
full  amount.  He,  however,  considering  there  must  be 
some  mistake,  wrote  to  Boston,  stating  the  arrival  of  the 
letter  with  the  check,  but  his  fear  that  his  motive  in  writ 
ing  which  drew  forth  the  remittance  had  been  misunder 
stood  ;  that  he  might  have  been  supposed  to  be  what  was 
known  as  a  '  Union  man  '  in  the  Southern  acceptation  of 
that  term,  or  a  repentant  rebel  disposed  to  gain  favor  with 
the  successful  party  by  condemning  his  own  past  course. 
He  told  him  that  he  was  neither;  that  he  had  been  an 
original  and  conscientious  believer  in  the  right  and  duty 
of  secession  in  1861,  and  had  no  regrets,  except  for  his 
failure ;  but  that  he  accepted  his  fate  and  was  ready  to 
keep  faith  with  the  government  which  had  conquered. 

"A  reply  from  Boston  to  this  letter  assured  him  that 
the  writer  had  earnestly  advocated  the  prosecution  of  the 
war,  and  during  the  war  would  have  held  him  an  enemy, 
but  that  peace  had  come,  and  he  now  sought  to  make  him 
a  friend,  and  took  this  as  a  natural  mode  of  doing  it,  and 
begged  him  to  keep  and  use  the  money.  I  need  not  say 
how  much  the  heart  of  this  Southerner  was  touched,  but 
he  was  a  man  of  honor,  and,  though  sorely  pressed  for 
money,  felt  in  looking  over  the  entire  field  of  his  affairs 
that  even  with  the  $1,000  he  was  greatly  in  debt,  and,  in 


MR.  BAYARD  IN  THE  SENATE.          290 

fact,  insolvent.  lie  felt  it  was  liis  duty,  as  it  was  liis 
right,  to  avail  himself  of  the  hankrupt  law  of  the  United 
States,  and  start  afresh,  after  giving  up  all  he  possessed, 
which  consisted  chiefly  of  the  farm  and  homestead  which 
sheltered,  his  family.  lie  therefore  wrote  again  to  the 
good  man  in  Boston,  telling  him  these  facts,  and  declining 
his  proffered  loan  under  the  circumstances.  The  mail  soon 
brought  a  request  to  know  the  precise  condition  of  his  affairs. 
He  made  it  out  in  exact  detail,  and  his  statement  disclosed 
debts  several  thousand  dollars  in  excess  of  his  asset?. 

"  In  prompt  return  of  mail  a  letter  reached  him,  with  a 
check  for  the  amount  of  his  needs  in  full.  His  debts  were 
paid,  his  energies  restored,  his  family  retained  in  their 
home,  the  day  of  his  adversity  had  passed,  and  prosperity 
met  him  with  pleasant  smile  and  open  hands.  The  money 
so  lent  by  the  Boston  merchant  to  a  total  stranger  in  a 
Southern  State,  one  whose  face  he  had  never  seen,  whose 
opinions,  social  and  political,  he  had  ever  opposed,  has 
been  returned ;  but  this  is  the  least  part  of  the  transaction. 
There  is  a  debt  which  will  never  be  paid  so  long  as  life- 
blood  warms  that  Southerners  heart — the  debt  of  love,  of 
gratitude,  of  friendship,  which  binds  him  and  his  kindred 
with  ties  stronger  than  iron  to  that  Boston  merchant,  and 
all  who  bear  his  name  or  are  of  his  kindred.  The  name 
of  the  Northern  man  is  borne  by  the  son  of  the  Southern 
man.  It  will  be  a  household  name  that  shall  couple  those 
two  families  in  true  ties  of  friendship  while  their  names 
shall  last.  Should  danger  or  trouble  assail  the  man  of  the 
North  or  his  kindred,  he  can  count  upon  the  ready  hand 
of  his  Southern  brother  to  defend  him — a  defense  rendered 
without  money  and  without  price  ;  the  cheap  defense  that 
human  love  gives  without  reckoning,  never  so  glad  as 
when  giving  it. 


300  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  F.   BAYARD. 

"  Why  should  not  these  two  families  of  Massachusetts 
and  Georgia  be  allowed  to  typify  the  relations  of  the 
Northern  and  the  Southern  people  ?  You  may  be  sure, 
Senators,  that  like  causes  will  produce  like  effects.  It  is 
in  your  power.  Shall  it  be  done?  In  justice  to  his 
State  and  to  the  people  of  all  America,  I  am  called  upon 
to  give  the  name  of  the  Boston  man  who  set  this  wise 
and  noble  example  to  his  fellow  countrymen.  It  was 
Daniel  Denny,  the  Boston  merchant,  whose  wisdom  of 
the  heart  knew  how  to  conquer  men  more  effectually  than 
he  who  has  won  the  bloodiest  garland  gained  in  battle. 
lie  overcame  enmity  by  kindness — the  great  law  of  love, 
whose  divine  Expositor  was  born  on  earth  eighteen  hun 
dred  and  seventy-two  years  ago,  but  whose  teachings  seem 
so  little  heeded  in  these  latter  days. 

"  Within  a  few  weeks  Mr.  Denny  has  gone  to  his  hon 
ored  grave,  but  his  good  name  shall  not  be  forgotten. 

*  Only  the  actions  of  the  just 
Smell  sweet  and  blossom  in  the  dust.' 

"  I  saw  and  felt  in  my  personal  intercourse  in  Georgia 
the  kindly  influences  which  his  trust  in  human  nature 
had  created. 

u  I  remember  well  this  gentleman  telling  me  of  a  meet 
ing  of  those  who  had  been  Confederate  officers  shortly 
after  the  occurrence  which  I  have  related.  They  were 
impoverished ;  they  were  sore  with  many  things  that  had 
visited  them  in  the  way  of  domestic  and  political  afflic 
tion.  They  had  much  to  condemn  and  little  to  praise. 
In  the  North  they  found  but  little  to  praise,  and  little, 
apparently,  to  thank  the  government  for.  While  they 
were  relating  instances  of  their  hardships,  this  gentleman 
arose  and  told  this  story  in  simplicity  and  truth ;  and  he 


MR.   BAYARD   IN  THE   SENATE.  301 

told  me  that  among  these  angry  and  sore  men,  who  had 
breasted  battle  many  a  time  and  bore  upon  their  persons 
the  scars  of  conflict,  there  were  tears  soft  as  woman's  shed 
at  this  one  touch  of  human  kindness : 

'  What  can  war  but  endless  wars  still  breed  ? '  " 

In  a  still  finer  strain  than  this,  to  our  thinking,  is  the 
peroration  to  Mr.  Bayard's  recent  speech  in  favor  of  re 
storing  Fitz-John  Porter  to  his  place  in  the  army.* 
"  Something,"  he  remarked,  "  has  been  said  about  his 
receiving  the  pay  and  allowances  of  his  rank.  Upon  my 
soul,  I  think  it  is  scarcely  worth  mentioning.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  great  act  is  the  act  of  restoration,  and  that 
this  incident,  the  payment  of  money  that  was  due  to  him 
fairly  under  the  law,  should  go  with  it.  If  it  be  true,  and 
who  can  doubt  it  is  true,  that  for  fifteen  years  this  man 
has  sat  with  a  crushed  and  aching  heart  asking  for  justice 
at  the  hands  of  his  government,  what  money  can  com 
pensate  him  ?  "Who  among  us  would  for  money's  sake 
stand  for  one  week  with  that  dreadful,  slow,  unmoving 
finger  of  scorn  pointed  at  us,  conscious  all  the  while  of  its 
cruel  and  bitter  injustice  ?  If  you  unbolted  your  treasury 
and  poured  its  contents  at  his  feet,  it  would  be  nothing  to 
him  as  compared  to  that  which  he  has  suffered.  It  really 
seems  to  me  this  point  is  insignificant  and  small  beyond 
notice. 

"  In  the  course  of  this  debate  I  have  heard  it  said, 
1  Wait  until  you  hear  from  the  people  on  this  subject.' 
Well,  Mr.  President,  I  hope  we  will  hear  from  the  peo 
ple  ;  but  before  we  hear  from  the  people  I  want  them  to 
hear  from  me.  I  am  not  waiting  for  the  echo  of  popular 
applause  or  condemnation.  I  think  no  greater  insult  can 

*  March  8,  1880. 


302  LIFE   OF  THOMAS   F.   BAYARD. 

be  offered  to  the  people  of  America  than  to  tell  them  that 
you  suppose  they  will  condemn  a  public  man  who  tells  the 
truth  and  endeavors  to  do  justice.  Is  it  service  to  the 
people  to  distrust  them  and  conceal  from  them  your  real 
judgments  ?  Oh,  sir,  there  rang  out  in  the  ages  long  ago 
from  the  lips  of  the  aged  patriarch  in  the  depth  of  his 
sorrows,  '  Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him ' ; 
and  shall  not  we  trust  in  those  we  profess  to  serve  ?  Shall 
we  not  trust  in  those  who  we  say  are  virtuous,  honest,  and 
intelligent  ?  Shall  we  not  vote  and  speak  according  to 
the  conscience  that  has  been  placed  in  the  breast  of  every 
man  among  us  ?  This  country  of  ours  is  one  of  the  lead 
ing  nations  of  the  world,  and  little  minds  are  not  fit  to 
govern  it.  If  this  government  should  fail  and  go  down 
amid  the  tears  of  those  who  love  constitutional  liberty  and 
republican  freedom,  close  to  the  root  of  its  cause  of  failure 
will  be  found  the  fact  that  her  representative  and  public 
men  disguised  their  honest  opinions  and  failed  to  tell  the 
people  the  truth,  as  they  knew  it  to  exist." 

This  sort  of  speaking  can  not  help  but  be  effective, 
and  we  know  that  it  is  so.  A  narrative  is  extant  of  the 
impression  made  by  a  speech  of  Mr.  Bayard's,  at  a  small 
town  in  Eastern  Maryland,  in  the  last  days  of  the  cam 
paign  of  1876.  "  We  can  not  pretend,"  says  the  imper 
fect  account,  "  to  give  an  extended  synopsis  of  even  that 
address,  but  we  can  not  forbear  to  print  one  great  utter 
ance  that  fell  from  his  lips.  In  words  so  simple  and  calm 
he  said  it,  too,  that  the  audience  sat  hushed  and  still. 
'  When  I  look  at  the  way  in  which  unprincipled  men,' 
he  said,  '  have  outraged  the  laws,  the  trust  of  the  great 
American  people,  the  confidence  of  the  better  men  of 
their  own  party,  it  does  not  make  me  angry,  but  it  makes 
me  sad,  so  sad?  This  was  said  with  a  pathos  and  a  sud- 


MR.   BAYARD   IX  THE   SENATE.  303 

den  overclouding  of  his  face  that  was  lighted  all  up  with 
energy  but  a  moment  before.  He  looked  tired  of  the 
contest,  and  the  people  could  not  break  the  spell  with 
applauding.  The  spell  that  fell  on  the  audience  was  the 
outgrowth  of  that  mesmeric  influence  that  emanates  from 
some  men  born  to  lead.  .  .  .  For  a  moment  after  he  had 
taken  his  seat  the  spell  remained,  and  then  it  was  broken, 
and  pent-up  feelings  found  utterance  in  a  deafening 
greeting." 

This  is  eloquence,  and  the  naive  honesty  of  the  im 
perfect  description  makes  one  regret  he  had  not  heard 
it  with  his  own  ears.  It  seems  more  fitting  to  conclude 
this  brief  outline  of  Mr.  Bayard's  public  life  with  this 
little  narrative  than  to  prolong  it  with  eulogies  not  to  his 
taste  or  parallels  which  might  reflect  upon  political  rivals. 
Such  as  the  man  is,  his  works,  and,  in  some  measure,  his 
ways,  have  been  frankly  and  fully  presented.  It  is  such 
a  character  as  must  give  all  intelligent  persons  new  con 
fidence  in  the  stability  and  permanence  of  our  institutions 
when  they  reflect  that  Mr.  Bayard  is  one  of  our  foremost 
statesmen,  and  a  man  upon  whom  the  hopes  of  very  many 
are  concentrated,  that  he  may  become  in  the  near  future 
the  leader  of  the  republic  backward  from  perilous  paths 
to  the  better  ways  of  old. 


THE    END. 


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